Kearns’ homers help Tribe roll

Associated Press

glendale, ariz.

Austin Kearns hit his first two home runs of the spring and drove in five runs as the Cleveland Indians rolled to a 12-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.

Kearns, who has a chance at the Indians’ starting left field job, went deep against Dodgers starter Eric Stults and again against reliever Aaron Miller.

In 25 at-bats before Sunday, he had just two extra-base hits and had not driven in a run.

“He’s a right-handed bat with a track record and some power,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “He can play the three outfields. His best position is right field but he can play center and occasionally left and he’s taking ground balls at first base.”

Indians starter Jake Westbrook pitched well, giving up one run on six hits in 42‚Ñ3 innings. He did not walk a batter and had three strikeouts.

Westbrook has not pitched in a big-league game since May 2008 because of elbow problems.

Blake DeWitt hit a home run for the Dodgers and is batting .371 this spring.

Garret Anderson, trying to earn a spot on the Dodgers’ bench, went 3 for 3 and is now batting .438 this spring.

“Garret looks good and his timing is coming; you can see it,” Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly said. “We’ll try to take advantage of the DH as much as we can for him and get him out [in left field] and get him in shape as much as we can.”

Stults, trying to earn the No. 5 spot in the Dodgers’ rotation, faced the minimum 11 batters through 32‚Ñ3 innings before Travis Hafner doubled and Kearns hit his first homer.

The left-hander gave up four runs — three earned — on two hits and walked three.

“I was having trouble getting the fastball down,” Stults said. “I look at it as I don’t feel it was detrimental to my spring. I had pretty good success up until the fourth inning.”

Hafner added two hits and three RBI, while Grady Sizemore also had a pair of hits. Cleveland scored five runs in the sixth inning off Miller, a Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2009 that now has a 67.50 ERA.

The Indians’ Michael Brantley was removed from the game in the fourth inning for precautionary reasons after “tweaking” his right ankle.

“He stepped awkwardly on [a] play at first base, but other than that, I saw him walking after the game,” Acta said. “I’m not anticipating anything serious but he’s going to be examined and [we] will find out more [today].”

Acta said Indians 1B Russell Branyan, who has been out with a herniated disc in his lower back, is expected to accelerate baseball activities this week.

The club signed Branyan to a one-year, $2 million deal last month, hoping he would add some punch to their lineup.

Mitch Talbot, trying to win a spot in Cleveland’s starting rotation, leads the Cactus League with a 0.79 ERA.

Rays-Pirates

BRADENTON, Fla.

Pittsburgh right-hander Daniel McCutchen’s start was pushed back a day after the Pirates’ game against the Tampa Bay Rays was rained out on Sunday.

He’ll pitch today in Clearwater against the Phillies’ Triple-A club — an assignment that indicates he’s closed the gap on Kevin Hart in the race to be Pittsburgh’s fifth starter.

Closer Octavio Dotel, out all spring due to a strained oblique, will make his first appearance today against another Phillies’ minor-league team.

Rays right-hander Andy Sonnanstine also was pushed back.

He will pitch today, either against the Boston Red Sox or in a minor league game.