Cabrera drives in 5 in win

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Asdrubal Cabrera has become the Cleveland Indians’ best offensive shortstop in more than 60 years.

Cabrera drove in five runs and Jeanmar Gomez won his fifth straight start as the Indians beat the Chicago White Sox 11-2 on Thursday night to remain in second place in the AL Central.

Cabrera hit a three-run homer and two-run single, tying his career-high for RBIs and giving him 92 for the season. That’s the most by an Indians shortstop since Hall of Famer Lou Boudreau drove in 106 on the way to winning AL MVP honors and leading Cleveland to its last World Series title — in 1948.

“It’s remarkable what he’s been doing,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “What a night! This guy has been putting together some really good numbers.”

Cabrera’s seventh-inning homer put Cleveland ahead 8-2 and was his 25th of the year, one more than the previous club record for a shortstop by Jhonny Peralta in 2005.

“I’m excited and pretty happy about that,” said Cabrera, who entered this year with 18 homers in 387 games. “I don’t think too much about [getting 100 RBIs]. I’ll just do the best I can and after the season see what numbers I get.”

Travis Hafner reached a milestone number, too, singling for his 1,000th career hit. Kosuke Fukudome had three RBIs as Cleveland moved 11/2 games ahead of the White Sox.

Hafner, in and out of the lineup due to injuries the past four seasons, was grateful for the fan ovation after being replaced by pinch-runner Cord Phelps.

“It was a very special moment,” Hafner said. “I never thought about it until somebody said before the game I had 999. Then I thought about guys getting 3,000 hits. That’s 200 for 15 years, just mind-boggling.”