Indians deny Haren's 15th win

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Cleveland snapped Oakland's four-game winning streak.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Dan Haren has two more regular-season starts, both against the rival Los Angeles Angels, and he knows he will have to pitch a lot better than he did in his latest outing.

Victor Martinez hit a two-run homer, Hector Luna added a solo shot and the Cleveland Indians denied Haren of his career-high 15th win with a 7-2 victory over Oakland Monday night to snap the AL West-leading Athletics' four-game winning streak.

"Maybe it was a little letdown by me," Haren said. "That's pretty much unacceptable."

Casey Blake doubled in two runs as the Indians gave Jake Westbrook an early lead, a nice boost for his club after losing three of four to the Minnesota Twins.

Division lead reduced

The A's, coming off a three-game weekend sweep of the defending World Series champion Chicago White Sox, saw their division lead drop to 61/2 games over the idle Angels.

Haren (14-12), who is still 8-3 in 11 starts since July 26, lasted only 42/3 innings for his shortest outing since Sept. 7, 2005, against Seattle in which he went 22/3 innings. He gave up seven runs and nine hits, struck out two and walked four on 106 pitches.

"I don't think we had a letdown," Oakland outfielder Jay Payton said. "We just didn't play as well as we had the last few days."

The Indians challenged Haren from the start, working the count to quickly elevate his pitch total. Haren had already thrown 67 pitches through three innings and the right-hander looked little like the pitcher who worked eight scoreless innings in a 1-0 win at Minnesota last Wednesday.

Westbrook earns win

Westbrook (13-10), a sinkerballer who had a no-decision against the A's on June 6, ended a two-start losing streak that followed three straight victories — and he held Frank Thomas in check, too. Westbrook struck out five, walked one and allowed only one earned run on nine hits in 72/3 innings.

"I was able to throw strikes and get ahead of the hitters," he said. "I did a better job of keeping them off balance."

Blake hit a two-out, bases-loaded double in the third and singled and scored a run in the fifth. Luna led off the fourth with his second homer and by the fifth, everybody but cleanup hitter Ryan Garko had reached base for Cleveland.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006