Indians sink Texas
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

ARLINGTON (AP) - Cleveland started the game last in the AL with a .239 team batting average. Perfect conditions for hitting and another perfectly dreadful pitching performance by the Texas Rangers perked up the Indians' offense. Ryan Garko drove in a career-high six runs, David Dellucci hit three-run homer and the Indians held on for a 15-9 victory over the Rangers on Wednesday night.

The Rangers (30-31) finish off their series with Cleveland tonight, a 7 p.m. start, then host Tampa Bay tomorrow.

Dellucci, who had 29 homers for the Rangers in 2005, extended Cleveland's lead to 11-6 in the sixth inning against Elizardo Ramirez (0-1) with his sixth homer. It came one batter after Garko's two-run single had put the Indians in front.

Garko, who had four hits, had another two-run single in the fourrun seventh that padded Cleveland's lead to 15-6.

Ramirez entered a 6-6 game, then was knocked around for eight runs and nine hits in 2 2-3 innings. He was called up from Triple-A Oklahoma earlier Wednesday. Ramirez left with a 30.38 ERA in his AL debut, throwing 70 pitches for a bullpen that was drained.

Texas pitchers have allowed 48 runs in the last four games, 28 by relievers.

Winds of 28 mph - gusting to 35 mph - and temperatures in the 90s created another night favorable to the offenses of the Rangers and Indians, who have scored 65 runs in the first three games of the four-game series.

"It's just a fun kind of opportunity," Garko said. "It's the opposite of Cleveland. In Cleveland, the wind is blowing in from right-center every day and it's freezing cold. You just want to go out and get a bat in your hands because it's hot and the ball will carry."

Ben Francisco had a career-high five hits, and Grady Sizemore homered as the Indians set a season high for runs.

Cliff Lee (9-1) threw 112 pitches in five innings and left with the game tied at 6, then watched his teammates rally for five runs in the sixth to give him the victory that left him tied for the AL lead in wins.

Lee, who struck out eight, began the night with an AL-best 1.88 ERA, but the Rangers got to him for six runs and nine hits.

Milton Bradley had a two-run homer for the Rangers - his third in two games - and drove in three runs. Texas' Josh Hamilton increased his league-leading RBI total to 68 with a run-scoring single in the third. Ian Kinsler extended his career-best hitting streak to 19 games with a leadoff triple and scored on Michael Young's groundout.

Young's RBI double, one of his three hits, stretched his hitting streak to 20 games, longest in the AL this season. Bradley launched a two-run shot with the help of the jet stream to give Texas a 5-4 lead.