Shin Soo Choo

Josh Johnson twice worked out of jams to earn his second straight win and help the Miami Marlins win an interleague series with Cleveland by beating the Indians 5-3 Sunday. Johnson (2-3) allowed one run and five hits over seven innings as Miami took two of three from the Indians and improved to 14-5 in May, the best record in the majors this month. Heath Bell gave up an RBI double to Jose Lopez and a run-scoring groundout to Casey Kotchman in the ninth before nailing down his fifth save in nine chances.

After the final out, closer Chris Perez let out a primal scream and punched the air in celebration. The Cleveland Indians, overlooked and underappreciated - even by many of their own skeptical fans - had swept three straight from the Detroit Tigers and their high-priced lineup. Justin Masterson matched Justin Verlander pitch for pitch for first his career win over visiting Detroit, and the first-place Indians did just enough to beat the reigning AL MVP, 2-1, Thursday and complete a three-game sweep of the underperforming Tigers.

Shin-Soo Choo hit the go-ahead RBI single in the ninth inning to back Jeanmar Gomez's seven superb innings and lift the Cleveland Indians to a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night. Choo's base hit off Twins closer Matt Capps (0-2) scored pinch-runner Lou Marson from second base, bailing out an Indians bullpen that squandered a 4-1 lead in the eighth inning. Gomez allowed one unearned run on three hits with three strikeouts and two walks. But Vinnie Pestano gave up an RBI-double to Josh Willingham in the eighth and Nick Hagadone served up a two-run homer to Ryan...

Justin Masterson matched Justin Verlander pitch for pitch for first his career win over Detroit, and the first-place Cleveland Indians did just enough to beat the reigning AL MVP 2-1 Thursday and complete a three-game sweep of the underperforming Tigers. Shin-Soo Choo homered on the third pitch from Verlander (5-2) as the Indians won for the eighth time in 10 games and opened a six-game lead over third-place Detroit in the AL Central. Detroit has dropped six of eight, and manager Jim Leyland was ejected in the fifth inning.

Ubaldo Jimenez overcame a shaky start to get the win and the Cleveland Indians pounded out a season-best five doubles to beat the Seattle Mariners 9-3 Wednesday night. Jimenez (4-3) gave up five hits and three runs over six innings. He threw 107 pitches — 27 in a long first inning — walked two and struck out four. Seattle starter Felix Hernandez (3-3) gave up 10 hits and six earned runs in only 3 2-3 innings. He and Jimenez combined for a 34-minute, 59-pitch first inning that ended with Cleveland ahead 4-1. Travis Hafner hit his fifth homer and drove in three runs, while...

Here are the lineups: RED SOX (14-19) Sweeney CF Pedroia 2B Ortiz DH Gonzalez 1B Middlebrooks 3B Nava LF Ross RF Saltalamacchia C Aviles SS Pitching: RHP Daniel Bard (2-4, 4.83) INDIANS (18-15) Damon LF Kipnis 2B Cabrera SS Hafner DH Santana C Choo RF Brantley CF Kotchman 1B Hannahan 3B Pitching: RHP Justin Masterson (1-2, 4.89) Game time: 1:35 p.m. TV/Radio: NESN / WEEI Indians vs. Bard: Johnny Damon 3-8, Jose Lopez 3-6, Asdrubal Cabrera 2-2, Shin-Soo Choo 1-2,...

In dire need of a strong outing from a starting pitcher, the Red Sox appeared on the brink of a first-inning meltdown against the Cleveland Indians when righthander Clay Buchholz gave up a two-out, run-scoring single to Carlos Santana, then loaded the bases when he hit the next batter, Shin-Soo Choo. It wasn’t the start manager Bobby Valentine was looking for from Buchholz, who entered with the most wins among Sox starters but with the worst earned run average (9.09) in baseball.

Spurned by Carlos Beltran , the Indians traded for Kosuke Fukudome and hope to keep upgrading their sagging offense. Cleveland acquired the outfielder from the Cubs for two prospects yesterday, one day after making an offer to the Mets for Beltran, who exercised a no-trade clause in his contract and was instead dealt to the Giants. "We're a better team than we were yesterday," Indians general manager Chris Antonetti said. "Kosuke helps us offensively and defensively.

CLEVELAND — Fausto Carmona pitched a three-hitter for his first shutout in more than two years, slowing Minnesota’s surge this month and leading the Cleveland Indians to a 2-0 win over the AL Central-leading Twins last night. Carmona (12-14) had lost his last six decisions, falling 1-0 in a complete-game start against Seattle his last time out. The righthander dominated the Twins, who just completed an 8-1 homestand and lost for only the second time in nine games in September.

The Tampa Bay Rays limped out of Cleveland hoping a homestand will help them get back on track. Rookie David Huff and four relievers combined to stifle the Rays, and Victor Martinez drove in both runs for the Indians in a 2-1 victory yesterday, completing a four-game sweep of the defending American League champions. The Rays have lost five in a row overall and 17 straight in Cleveland, the longest road losing streak against one team in club history. It was the first four-game sweep for the Indians since they did it to the Rays July 10-13.

Josh Johnson twice worked out of jams to earn his second straight win and help the Miami Marlins win an interleague series with Cleveland by beating the Indians 5-3 Sunday. Johnson (2-3) allowed one run and five hits over seven innings as Miami took two of three from the Indians and improved to 14-5 in May, the best record in the majors this month. Heath Bell gave up an RBI double to Jose Lopez and a run-scoring groundout to Casey Kotchman in the ninth before nailing down his fifth save in nine chances.

Indians manager Manny Acta had a simple explanation for why his team's four-game winning streak came to a halt Friday night. "When you only score two runs, you have to play almost perfect baseball and we didn't," he said after Cleveland's 3-2 loss to Miami. All three Marlins runs were scored by batters who had started rallies with walks. A throwing error by reliever Joe Smith led to the run that broke a 2-all tie in the eighth. Those issues resulted in bigger trouble because three Marlins pitchers held the Indians to four hits.

Ubaldo Jimenez overcame a shaky start to get the win and the Cleveland Indians pounded out a season-best five doubles to beat the Seattle Mariners 9-3 Wednesday night. Jimenez (4-3) gave up five hits and three runs over six innings. He threw 107 pitches — 27 in a long first inning — walked two and struck out four. Seattle starter Felix Hernandez (3-3) gave up 10 hits and six earned runs in only 3 2-3 innings. He and Jimenez combined for a 34-minute, 59-pitch first inning that ended with Cleveland ahead 4-1. Travis Hafner hit his fifth homer and drove in three runs, while...

Derek Lowe has lasted 16 seasons in the major leagues with one of the sharpest sinkers around, a simple pitch that has helped stabilize Cleveland's rotation. It was working so well Tuesday against Minnesota's languishing lineup that Lowe threw it a whole lot. About 120 times. Lowe posted his first shutout in nearly seven years, throwing a six-hitter and leading the Indians past the Twins, 5-0, in Minneapolis. He became the first pitcher to throw a shutout without a strikeout since Scott Erickson for Baltimore against Kansas City April 28, 2002.

Ryan Doumit's two-run blast sailed into the upper deck in left field, and he was swarmed by his teammates as he hit the dugout to celebrate his game-tying, eighth-inning home run. Almost as quickly as the slumbering Twins' offense woke up, the celebration was over and another game was lost. Shin-Soo Choo hit the go-ahead RBI single in the ninth inning to back Jeanmar Gomez's seven superb innings and lift the Cleveland Indians to a 5-4 victory over Minnesota on Monday night.

Shin-Soo Choo hit the go-ahead RBI single in the ninth inning to back Jeanmar Gomez's seven superb innings and lift the Cleveland Indians to a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night. Choo's base hit off Twins closer Matt Capps (0-2) scored pinch-runner Lou Marson from second base, bailing out an Indians bullpen that squandered a 4-1 lead in the eighth inning. Gomez allowed one unearned run on three hits with three strikeouts and two walks. But Vinnie Pestano gave up an RBI-double to Josh Willingham in the eighth and Nick Hagadone...

Cleveland Indians manager Manny Acta is losing patience with slumping hitters such as Grady Sizemore, Carlos Santana, Shin-Soo Choo and Matt LaPorta. Those four were among the top five in Cleveland’s lineup and combined for only one hit in a 6-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers. “I’m disappointed because some of these guys don’t seem to be making much progress getting out of these slumps,’’ Acta said. “Some of them have been going for three months, and they are way too talented to be struggling for this long.

Curtis Granderson hit a two-run shot and Alex Rodriguez missed out on his 600th homer in the New York Yankees’ 3-2 win over the Indians last night in Cleveland. Granderson connected with one out off Jake Westbrook (6-7), who held Rodriguez hitless in three at-bats and was clinging to a 2-1 lead. Jorge Posada reached on a one-out single before Granderson delighted the many Yankees fans in the crowd of 27,224 hoping to see homer history. Rodriguez popped to first against reliever Chris Perez in the ninth to finish an 0 for 4 night.

Derek Lowe has lasted 16 seasons in the major leagues with one of the sharpest sinkers around, a simple pitch that has helped stabilize Cleveland's rotation. It was working so well Tuesday against Minnesota's languishing lineup that Lowe threw it a whole lot. About 120 times. Lowe posted his first shutout in nearly seven years, throwing a six-hitter and leading the Indians past the Twins 5-0. He became the first pitcher to throw a shutout without a strikeout since Scott Erickson for Baltimore against Kansas City on April 28, 2002.

Here are the lineups: RED SOX (14-19) Sweeney CF Pedroia 2B Ortiz DH Gonzalez 1B Middlebrooks 3B Nava LF Ross RF Saltalamacchia C Aviles SS Pitching: RHP Daniel Bard (2-4, 4.83) INDIANS (18-15) Damon LF Kipnis 2B Cabrera SS Hafner DH Santana C Choo RF Brantley CF Kotchman 1B Hannahan 3B Pitching: RHP Justin Masterson (1-2, 4.89) Game time: 1:35 p.m. TV/Radio: NESN / WEEI Indians vs. Bard: Johnny Damon 3-8, Jose Lopez 3-6, Asdrubal...