Cleveland — Jeremy Sowers has a reputation for being a quick study.
Baseball's hottest-hitting team found out just how swift Saturday night. The rookie left-hander pitched a four-hitter as the Cleveland Indians snapped the Minnesota Twins' eight-game winning streak with an 11-0 victory.
"I'd like to take this game and make it the next 30 for us," Indians pitching coach Carl Willis said after Sowers (2-3) baffled a club that had accumulated 11 or more hits in every game during its winning streak.
That included a 5-2 victory over the 23-year-old Sowers on July 16, in which they scored 11 in seven innings.
"The guy pitched well and had good command of the strike zone," said Michael Cuddyer, who managed one of Minnesota's four singles. "Last week he threw it right down the middle."
Sowers, Cleveland's first-round draft pick (No. 6 overall) in 2004 out of Vanderbilt, where he was a straight-A student, watched video of that performance and made some changes.
"I stood a little taller," said Sowers, generously listed at 6-foot-1 in the team media guide. "That helped me get a better angle on some pitches. I had good balance and was able to keep the ball down."
Mariners 5, Red Sox 2
Seattle - Normally reliable shortstop Alex Gonzalez's sixth-inning throwing error allowed Eduardo Perez to score the tiebreaking run, spoiling Kason Gabbard's major-league debut and helping Seattle beat Boston.
Athletics 9, Tigers 5
Detroit - Mark Kotsay's three-run homer in the second inning helped Oakland erase a five-run deficit, then Milton Bradley and Marco Scutaro each added homers.
Yankees 5, Blue Jays 4
Toronto - Bernie Williams homered, Derek Jeter drove in the go-ahead run with a bases-loaded walk, and the Yankees ended a three-game losing streak.
Rangers 3, White Sox 1
Chicago - Michael Young hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the ninth inning, and the Rangers beat the slumping White Sox. Paul Konerko homered for the White Sox.
Devil Rays 13, Orioles 12
St. Petersburg, Fla. - Julio Lugo homered twice during a 10-run fifth inning. The Orioles had nine runs in the seventh.
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