AMERICAN LEAGUE Hafner's cycle revs Indians, 8-3

He completed the improbable feat with an eighth-inning triple.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Travis Hafner knew what he needed to complete the seventh cycle in Cleveland history when he came to bat in the eighth inning.
The hardest hit to get.
"I don't think I can ever think triple. It just happened to go to that spot of the park," Hafner said after his cycle helped Brian Anderson and the Indians beat the listless Minnesota Twins 8-3 on Thursday afternoon.
Hafner, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound rookie who's a prospect because of his power stroke -- not his speed -- homered in the first, hit a check-swing double in the fourth and reached on an infield single in the seventh against Twins starter Brad Radke.
Making it happen
Hafner's teammates started selecting spots in the stadium where he'd have to send a ball to make it all the way to third. After driving a pitch from James Baldwin to deep right-center field, Hafner slid safely into the bag without a play as the Indians dugout erupted in celebration.
"As soon as it left the bat, guys jumped off the bench and were rooting hard for him to have enough gas to get there," Anderson said.
Hafner, who hit his second career triple and the first in 185 at-bats this year, was acquired in an off-season trade with Texas. Hafner, batting .254 with eight homers and 28 RBIs, was asked if his teammates had any good one-liners once he reached the dugout after scoring the Indians' eighth run.
"I don't think I could hear any," he said. "I was breathing too hard."
On the other side, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was livid.
"That was embarrassing. Embarrassing for our fans," Gardenhire said. "We have guys with no clue. No clue what's going on out there."
Anderson (9-9) allowed six hits, two walks and a run in 8 1/3 innings while striking out eight. Matthew LeCroy homered with one out in the ninth and cost the Indians their chance at back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 1991.
"We need to go out every day like it's our last game," said Jacque Jones, who had one of the Twins' nine hits. "If we don't do that, we should go home. If we do, we'll win a lot of games and we'll get back over the mountain."
Tired arms
The Twins, their bullpen taxed by a 9-6 loss on Tuesday and a 5-0 defeat in 14 innings on Wednesday, badly needed a quality start from Radke that they didn't get.
Radke (8-10) suffered his first loss in six starts after the All-Star break, giving up nine hits and five runs in 6 1/3 innings while striking out three.
Anderson, who picked up his first win in four starts, pitched seven shutout innings in a no-decision Saturday against Anaheim. After LeCroy's homer with one out in the ninth, Anderson was relieved by David Cortes -- who gave up a sacrifice fly to Dustan Mohr and an RBI single to Cristian Guzman.
Casey Blake homered and drove in three runs and Jhonny Peralta hit a pair of doubles for Cleveland, which won for the eighth time in 11 games and improved to 8-3 against Minnesota this year -- 6-2 at the Metrodome.
The Indians left their clubhouse energized after taking three of four from a pennant contender and witnessing Hafner's improbable feat.
"You want your guys pulling for each other," manager Eric Wedge said.