Hafner, Tribe edge Twins

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AP photo Cleveland’s Travis Hafner (48) is congratulated after scoring a run in the seventh inning of Thursday’s game against the Minnesota Twins. Cleveland won 2-1.

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CLEVELAND (AP) — Rookie Trevor Crowe and the new-look Cleveland Indians made a small stir in the AL Central.

Crowe hit a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning, helping the Indians beat Minnesota 2-1 Thursday to drop the third-place Twins 4½ games behind first-place Detroit.

“We wanted to win two of three here,” Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said after losing twice. “We can’t fault anybody but ourselves.”

Crowe’s line drive into the left-center gap off Nick Blackburn (8-6) scored Travis Hafner from second as Cleveland won for the ninth time in 13 games. The switch-hitting Crowe has batted .375 (9-for-24) with six runs and four RBIs in six games since his recall from Triple-A Columbus on Friday.

“It helps a lot mentally to get a big hit,” said Crowe, a first-round pick in 2005. “I know I can play at this level.”

Orlando Cabrera had two hits, extending his hitting streak to a career-high 16 games for Minnesota, which has lost five of six after a four-game winning streak. Cabrera is 10 for 20 since being acquired from Oakland on Friday.

The Twins went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position and fell two games under .500.

“We had opportunities,” Gardenhire said. “Simple ground balls to the infield get runs in. It’s disappointing to waste a good pitching performance.”

Gardenhire hopes to gain ground during a three-game weekend series at Detroit.

“They’re all important when you’re chasing,” he said. “It’s in our division and on the road. You don’t want to get too far behind or too far under .500.”

Tony Sipp (2-0) pitched 1 1-3 innings for the win. Joe Smith retired both batters he faced in the eighth, and Kerry Wood pitched a perfect ninth for his 15th save in 20 chances.

Tags: sports, baseball, hafner, twins, minnesota, tribe, indians