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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CLEVELAND (AP) -- The Cleveland Indians may have lost their
Jacobs Field magic. To Matt Lawton, however, the park is still a
special place.
Lawton hit two home runs and the Minnesota Twins sent the
Cleveland Indians to their third straight loss, 7-2, Friday night.
|  | | Ricky Ledee singles in the sixth inning at Jacobs Field on Friday. Ledee was playing in his first game as an Indian after being traded from the Yankees in the David Justice deal. |
"I love coming here, there's a good atmosphere," Lawton said
after raising his career average against Cleveland to .371. "Fans
are always in the stands and always in the game."
Those fans have been accustomed to seeing the Indians win -- until this year. Cleveland fell to 17-19 at home and 14-20 against
AL Central teams. The 20 losses equal the most in a season in the
seven-year-old division by Cleveland, which went 32-20 in 1996.
"Right now, we're just bad," manager Charlie Manuel said.
"We've got to do something about it. We can talk about it all we
want, but on the field is where you get it done."
Midre Cummings, who also homered, Corey Koskie and Lawton each
had three of Minnesota's 16 hits.
Ricky Ledee, in his Cleveland debut after being acquired from
the New York Yankees in a trade for David Justice on Thursday
night, started in left field and went 1-for-3 with a walk.
Lawton hit a two-run home run in the first inning off Jim Brower
(2-2). Lawton led off the sixth with his sixth homer, connecting
off Brian Williams for a 7-1 lead.
Mark Redman (5-3) won for the first time since May 30. He
allowed one run on four hits in five innings, snapping his
three-game losing streak. Redman had gone 0-3 with a 7.03 ERA in five previous starts in
June.
LaTroy Hawkins gave up one run in four innings for his third save.
"We got away with using only two pitchers and that's not too
bad when you play the Indians," Twins manager Tom Kelly said.
Kelly still has plenty of respect for the five-time defending AL
champions, despite Cleveland's recent struggles.
"I don't like coming here," Kelly said. "I'd like to play
them once or twice a year. That would be enough."
Cummings led off the Twins' fifth with his third homer. Koskie
and Chad Moeller had RBI singles later in the inning to give
Minnesota a 6-1 lead.
Two Cleveland errors on one play gave the Twins a 3-1 lead in
the fourth.
David Ortiz opened with a single and Moeller then lined a single
to right, which Alex Ramirez misplayed. Ortiz scored and Moeller
went all the way to third when second baseman Robbie Alomar's relay
throw skipped past catcher Sandy Alomar.
Ramirez led off the ninth with his fourth homer for Cleveland.
Game notes
Minnesota has 33 homers in its last 33 games. ... It was
Lawton's third career two-homer game and first since Sept. 19,
1997. ... Koskie went 3-for-5 and has hit .385 (35-for-91) in his
last 28 games. ... Cleveland's Charles Nagy, in his third
rehabilitation start, pitched six scoreless innings for Double-A
Akron, allowing one hit and striking out eight. He had right elbow
surgery May 19. ... Sean DePaula followed Nagy with one hitless
inning in his rehab outing. He went on the disabled list May 29
with tendinitis in his right elbow. ... Cleveland went 13-16 in
June, its worst record in the month since the 1992 team went 12-15
and the most losses since the Indians lost 17 in May 1993.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Minnesota Clubhouse
Cleveland Clubhouse
Justice but no peace for Yanks: D-Rays walk away
Justice just wants to help, not save, Yankees
Over the shock, Ledee set to help Tribe
Justice served: Yanks give Indians Ledee, 2 more
RECAPS
Minnesota 7
Cleveland 2
Tampa Bay 6
NY Yankees 4
Baltimore 8
Toronto 3
Chi. White Sox 10
Boston 4
Detroit 3
Kansas City 1
Texas 13
Seattle 3
Anaheim 7
Oakland 0
Florida 5
Montreal 4
Pittsburgh 8
Philadelphia 3
NY Mets 11
Atlanta 8
Chicago Cubs 7
Milwaukee 4
St. Louis 5
Houston 4
Cincinnati 5
Arizona 4
Colorado 5
San Diego 4
Los Angeles 9
San Francisco 2
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