Cleveland ? Almost three hours after Bob Wickman squatted to catch the ceremonial first pitch, he threw the last one to silence Minnesota.

Wickman stranded the tying run at third base in the ninth inning and sent the Cleveland Indians to a 2-1 win over the Twins in a peaceful series opener between the bitter AL Central rivals on Monday night.

The Indians, starting a 13-game stretch in which they’ll face either Minnesota or first-place Chicago 10 times, have won three straight and are inching closer to .500.

“This was another big win,” Wickman said. “We’re all chasing the White Sox. But we need to get to .500 first.”

Before the teams renewed their heated rivalry, Wickman went out to catch the first pitch thrown by Joe Ladd, the president of “Wickman’s Warriors,” the closer’s official fan club.

“I’m glad he threw a perfect one,” Wickman said. “I was nervous. I’m not too mobile and I was worried because I had all those people behind me getting ready to sing the national anthem.”

For one of the few times in the past couple of seasons, the Twins and Indians stuck to baseball without any brushbacks, beanings or barking.

Cleveland Indians manager Eric Wedge, Left, and the rest of the bench congratulates Jhonny Peralta (2) after he scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Victor Martinez. Cleveland beat Minnesota, 2-1, Monday in Cleveland.

There was barely a tight pitch or menacing glare between the clubs, who have been at odds the past few years. Before the series started, Major League Baseball warned the teams to behave, sending a letter to both managers to keep their players in line.

“I think it’s kind of been overblown,” said Indians starter Scott Elarton, proudly wearing his blue “Wickman’s Warriors” T-shirt complete with its “In Bob We Trust” insignia. “It’s a mutual respect more than anything.”

In the eighth, Victor Martinez, in a 1-for-24 slump, broke a 1-all tie by hitting a sacrifice fly to center that scored Jhonny Peralta.

Arthur Rhodes (3-1) pitched one perfect inning, striking out two. Wickman gave up a one-out double that just missed being a homer to Torii Hunter, who advanced on a groundout. After a walk, Wickman got Michael Cuddyer to ground out for his 13th save in 15 tries.

Peralta opened the eighth with a single off starter Kyle Lohse (3-3), who felt he made a good pitch to the shortstop.

“It’s disappointing that it led to the winning run,” Lohse said.

Grady Sizemore sacrificed and Casey Blake followed with a single, but Peralta was held at third. Gardenhire brought in left-hander J.C. Romero to face Travis Hafner, who came in batting just .167 against lefties but walked.

Martinez fell behind 0-1 before hitting a liner at Hunter, who had to take a few steps back to make the catch and had no chance of throwing out Peralta. It was only the second RBI since May 8 for Martinez, who drove in 108 last season.

Angels 4, White Sox 0

Anaheim, Calif. – Ervin Santana threw a five-hit shutout in his second major league start, handing Jon Garland his first loss of the season as Los Angeles defeated Chicago in a matchup of AL division leaders.

Darin Erstad and Orlando Cabrera each had three hits for the Angels, who have won six of eight. Adam Kennedy hit a two-run double in the second inning and Bengie Molina had a solo homer and an RBI single.

Santana (1-1) struck out seven and walked one.