Indians blast Twins, clinch AL Central

CLEVELAND -- Bartolo Colon (14-11) pitched eight shutout innings and Jim Thome hit his 49th homer as the Cleveland Indians clinched their sixth AL Central title in seven years, routing the Minnesota Twins 9-1 Sunday.

Ellis Burks added a two-run homer and Jolbert Cabrera and Kenny Lofton had two RBIs apiece as Cleveland finished the season 14-5 vs. Minnesota.

Rick Reed (4-5) took the loss for the Twins, who led the division by five games on July 16.

Cleveland's clinching victory in the regular season home finale at Jacobs Field was somewhat tempered as manager Charlie Manuel remained hospitalized with an abdominal infection.

ORIOLES 1, YANKEES 1

NEW YORK -- Baltimore's Cal Ripken went 0-for-7 with four strikeouts -- his poorest showing, statistically, of his 21 years in the major leagues -- in his final road game before it was called because of rain after 15 innings.

Ripken, who was honored before the game, had never gone 0-for-7 before, and the only other time Ripken had four strikeouts in a game was May 2, 1984, against Cleveland.

Roger Clemens allowed one run and four hits in six innings for New York, allowing only a homer to Chris Richards.

Bernie Williams homered for New York.

MARINERS 6, ATHLETICS 3

SEATTLE -- Ichiro Suzuki extended his rookie hits record with his eighth homer and Seattle moved closer to the AL wins record.

The Mariners (111-45) tied the 1954 Cleveland Indians as the third winningest team in major league history. With six games to go, Seattle needs three wins to tie the 1998 New York Yankees for the AL wins record and five to match the 1906 Chicago Cubs for the most ever in the majors.

Suzuki went 1-for-4 and leads the AL with a .348 average and is tops in the majors with a rookie record 235 hits. John Olerud also homered for the Mariners against Tim Hudson (17-9).

Aaron Sele (15-5) allowed one run and three hits in seven innings to win his second straight start.

RED SOX 8, TIGERS 5

DETROIT -- Scott Hatteberg drove in three runs and Trot Nixon hit a two-run homer off Jose Lima (5-9) as Boston beat Detroit.

Frank Castillo (9-9) got the win for the Red Sox (77-77), who won for just the second time in eight games and got back to .500.

RANGERS 8, ANGELS 6

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Alex Rodriguez hit his league-leading 51st home run and Texas scored the tying and go-ahead runs on an error by Anaheim shortstop Benji Gil in the eighth inning.

Doug Davis (11-9) won for the sixth time in seven decisions, allowing six runs and 10 hits in eight innings. Jeff Zimmerman pitched the ninth for his 27th save in 30 chances.

Shigetoshi Hasegawa (5-6), trying to protect a 6-5 lead for starter Scott Schoeneweis, gave up a leadoff double to pinch-hitter Frank Catalanotto and hit rookie Chris Magruder with an 0-2 pitch.

After a one-out walk to Rodriguez, Gil's error led to the go-ahead runs.

BLUE JAYS 6, DEVIL RAYS 5

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Carlos Delgado hit a go-ahead single in the 12th inning off Doug Creek (2-5) and Toronto beat Tampa Bay.

Paul Quantrill (11-2) worked a scoreless 11th for the win. Scott Eyre got three outs for his second save.

WHITE SOX 5, ROYALS 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Carlos Lee's leaping catch in left field robbed Raul Ibanez of a grand slam and Gary Glover pitched six strong innings as Chicago beat Kansas City.

Glover (5-4) gave up two runs and three hits, with one walk and four strikeouts. Keith Foulke got the last four outs for his 41st save.

-- From wire reports