Cabrera, Tomlin help lift Indians

Associated Press

cleveland

Asdrubal Cabrera hit a three-run homer and Josh Tomlin pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday night.

Cabrera connected in the third, driving a 1-0 pitch from Brian Duensing (8-11) over the wall in left for his 20th homer. Shin-Soo Choo hit a leadoff single and Jason Donald walked before Cabrera went deep.

Tomlin (12-5) and four relievers combined for a five-hitter, with Chris Perez pitching a perfect ninth for his 25th save in 28 chances.

Tomlin moved to 1-1 in five starts since losing 7-5 at Minnesota on July 20. The right-hander was charged with one run and four hits in 61/3 innings, leaving with Twins on first and second after issuing his only walk, to Jim Thome.

Joe Smith came in and got Danny Valencia on a short fly to right-center before Delmon Young blooped an RBI single to right, scoring Justin Morneau from second to make it 3-1. Rafael Perez then struck out Tsuyoshi Nishioka to strand two runners.

Tony Sipp worked a perfect eighth to get the ball to Perez.

Minnesota has lost 11 of 13, while second-place Cleveland earned its fourth win in five games to keep up the pressure on AL Central leader Detroit.

By taking the first two of three games against Minnesota after winning two of three from the Tigers, Cleveland has won consecutive series for the first time since winning three in a row over Arizona, Cincinnati and the New York Yankees from June 27 to July 6.

Thome remained two homers shy of becoming the eighth player to hit 600. The 40-year-old former Indians star went 0 for 3 with a walk for the second consecutive night. He was called out on strikes to end the game.

With a little luck, Tomlin could have taken a perfect game into the sixth. The Twins’ first two hits were sharply struck, but within range of being caught. Nishioka singled with two outs in the third when his line drive ticked off the glove of leaping second baseman Donald. Joe Mauer got a one-out single in the fourth when his hard shot went past Cabrera’s glove at shortstop on a wicked short hop.

Minnesota outfielder Denard Span singled to center in the sixth to snap an 0-for-27 slide. Morneau got a leadoff double in the seventh when his sharp grounder just inside the bag went off first baseman Matt LaPorta’s glove.

Duensing fell to 3-1 in four career starts against Cleveland.