The surging Cleveland Indians are on the verge of moving out of last place in the AL Central. The Baltimore Orioles have a little further to go as they try to do the same in the AL East.
The Indians look to match a season high with a fifth straight victory as they continue their four-game home series with the Orioles on Tuesday night.Cleveland (53-64) outlasted Baltimore 13-8 on Monday in a wild first meeting of the season between the two last-place clubs. Another victory Tuesday, coupled with a Kansas City loss at Chicago, would lift the Indians out of the cellar for the first time since July 26.
Ben Francisco, Andy Gonzalez and Asdrubal Cabrera each homered and drove in two runs Monday for Cleveland, which blew a 5-0 lead before scoring six runs over the seventh and eighth innings for the victory.
"It was a good team win," said Indians first baseman Ryan Garko, who had two hits and two RBIs. "We got up early, came back late. We all just battled and got it done."
Garko is 6-for-11 with five RBIs in his last three games for the Indians, who also won five straight from April 22-26.
Jeremy Sowers (1-6, 5.70 ERA) looks to avoid a second straight losing decision when he takes the mound for Cleveland. He was in line for a victory in his most recent outing after allowing three earned runs in six innings, but the Indians blew a three-run lead by giving up six in the ninth to fall 10-7 at Tampa Bay on Wednesday.
The left-hander has struggled badly versus the Orioles, going 0-2 with an 11.57 ERA in three starts.
Baltimore (56-61) has lost two in a row, but is 8-6 since a five-game skid last month. The Orioles, the only team in the East with a losing record, have been last in the division since July 21. They're three games behind fourth-place Toronto and trail the East-leading Rays by 15 games.
Nick Markakis went 3-for-5 with four RBIs on Monday and red-hot Aubrey Huff homered for Baltimore, which lost 15-7 to Texas on Sunday after holding the potent Rangers lineup to one run over the two previous contests.
"We didn't pitch well enough from the beginning, plain and simple," manager Dave Trembley said of Monday's defeat.
After rough pitching performances in its last two games, Baltimore hopes Garrett Olson (8-6, 6.06) can bounce back after allowing six runs and seven hits in 2 2-3 innings of a 9-4 loss to Los Angeles on Wednesday.
"He just didn't locate and didn't have much finish," Trembley said of Olson, who had won two starts in a row.
The left-hander will be making his first start against the Indians.
Huff is batting .390 (30-for-77) with five home runs and 15 RBIs during a 19-game hitting streak, while Brian Roberts singled and drove in a pair of runs as he extended his hitting streak to 13 games. Roberts is batting .370 (20-for-54) during that span.
