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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Wil Cordero never lost his home-run swing -- it
just went on an extended vacation.
|  | | The Indians' Wil Cordero slugs a solo homer off Victor Santos in the second inning. |
Cordero, who had a home run taken away by umpires a day earlier,
connected twice and Juan Gonzalez had three more RBI Thursday
night to lead the Cleveland Indians over the Detroit Tigers 8-5.
"I'm just in a groove," said Cordero, who earlier this season
homered for the first time in 257 at-bats. "That's how this game
goes. I get lucky once in a while."
Cleveland has won all seven series in May and has won eight
straight, tying a franchise record set in 1950 and matched in '56.
The Indians are 12-2-1 in 15 series this season.
Cordero hit solo shots in the second and fourth innings off
rookie Victor Santos (1-1) to help the Indians rally from a 3-0
deficit.
"With the hitters we have on this team, we feel like we can
come back every night," Cordero said.
Dave Burba (7-2) survived another shaky start thanks to the run
support and improved to 8-2 in 12 career starts against the Tigers.
He allowed a season-high 10 hits and four runs in 5 2/3 innings but
won for the seventh time in eight starts.
Burba has a 5.15 earned-run average, and opponents are batting .305 against the
right-hander.
"I really don't care," Burba said. "As long as we win I don't
care if it's 100 and they're batting 1,000 off me. Hopefully, I'll
pitch better. But 7-2, you can't shake a stick at that. I know I'm
not going to pitch a no-hitter or shut them down, but as long as I
stay out there long enough we have a chance to win."
Steve Karsay gave up an RBI double to Robert Fick in the ninth
and was pulled after Tony Clark's double off Bob Wickman.
With runners at second and third and no outs, Wickman snared a
high-hopper to get Fick in a rundown before inducing Deivi Cruz to
hit into a game-ending double play for his eighth save.
It was one of several instances where the Tigers couldn't
capitalize on a good situation.
"We caught every break but couldn't do anything with them,"
Detroit manager Phil Garner said. "We hit into two double plays in
one inning."
In Cleveland's 4-3 win on Wednesday, Cordero hit an apparent
home run that sailed over the 91-foot-high foul pole in left,
circling the bases before umpires reversed the call.
Gonzalez hit a two-run double and added a sacrifice fly, giving
him 32 RBI in his last 30 games.
Jim Thome added a two-run homer for the Indians, who face the
World Series champion New York Yankees in a three-game series
starting Friday.
The Yankees will be the first opponent with a winning record for
the Indians since April 4, when Chicago was 1-0.
"They're on a roll," Garner said of the Indians. "They are
swinging some kind of good. You make a mistake and they are
absolutely killing it."
Gonzalez hit a two-run double and Thome ripped a 418-foot homer
into the seats in right when the Indians scored four runs with two
outs in the third for a 5-3 lead.
Detroit got a run back in the fourth on a groundout. The Tigers
loaded the bases on three singles, including a potential
double-play grounder that struck second base umpire Marvin Hudson
and on Jose Macias' bunt that hugged the third-base line.
Cordero led off the fourth with his second homer of the game and
third this season to make it 6-4. He hit his first on May 16 at
Texas, ending the drought that began last July in Pittsburgh before
he was traded back to Cleveland.
Omar Vizquel added an RBI single and Gonzalez hit a sac fly in
the inning.
Santos, who entered with a 0.64 ERA, was tagged for seven runs
and seven hits in his third major league start.
Burba, whose ERA is 7.00 in innings one through three, gave
up three runs and five hits in the second when the Tigers took a
3-0 lead.
Detroit got consecutive one-out RBI singles from Damian Easley,
Ryan Jackson and Roger Cedeno off Burba, who avoided further
trouble by popping up Jose Macias and retiring Fick on a grounder.
Game notes
Burba is 5-0 at night. ... Gonzalez has 64 RBI in 53
career games at Jacobs Field. ... Indians 3B Travis Fryman went
2-for-2 and had two assists in a rehab start for Triple-A Buffalo.
Fryman, sidelined since March with a torn elbow ligament, is
expected to be activated this weekend. ... The Indians re-signed
LHP Mark Watson to a minor-league contract and assigned him to
Double-A Akron. ... The Tigers went 4-5 on a nine-game, 10-day road
trip. ... Cedeno hit safely in all nine games.
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RECAPS
NY Yankees 2
Boston 1
Baltimore 6
Anaheim 4
Cleveland 8
Detroit 5
Chi. White Sox 3
Toronto 1
Texas 9
Tampa Bay 3
St. Louis 7
Milwaukee 4
Chicago Cubs 3
Cincinnati 0
San Diego 3
Arizona 1
Philadelphia 6
Pittsburgh 5
NY Mets 11
Florida 3
San Francisco 5
Colorado 1
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