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Cleveland’s homer kills Oakland’s one-run lead
OAKLAND — Lee Stevens hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning as the Cleveland Indians came from behind to beat the Oakland Athletics 8-6 Monday night.
The A’s have lost five of six, dropping four games out of first place in the AL West.
Trailing by three going into the seventh, Milton Bradley hit a two-run single with the bases loaded and Stevens gave Cleveland the lead with his home run off reliever Mike Magnante (0-2).
It was Stevens’ first home run with the Indians since he was acquired from Montreal on June 27 in the deal that sent Bartolo Colon to the Expos.
Stevens wasn’t even scheduled to start, but designated hitter Ellis Burks was a late scratch with a sore shoulder.
Terry Mulholland (1-0), making his Indians debut after being traded from Los Angeles on Sunday, worked two scoreless innings of relief.
With closer Bob Wickman on the disabled list, Mark Wohlers got two outs for his first save since June 3, 1998, for Atlanta.
Eric Chavez and Jermaine Dye hit RBI singles in the first inning off Cleveland starter Jaret Wright to give the A’s a 2-0 lead.
Wright got into trouble in the second, loading the bases with no outs. Ray Durham hit an RBI groundout and Miguel Tejada added a run-scoring single to make it 4-0.
Tejada extended his hitting streak to a career-high 18 games. The last Oakland player with an 18-game string was Jason Giambi in 1999.
Ramon Hernandez added a two-out RBI double in the third inning to make it 5-0.
Wright, making just his second start of the season after recovering from shoulder surgery, allowed five runs on five hits in 2 2-3 innings. He walked seven, a season high for an Indians pitcher.
Ricky Gutierrez, Einar Diaz and Matt Lawton all hit two-out RBI singles off A’s starter Tim Hudson in the fourth inning to cut it to 5-3.
Chavez added an RBI double in the fourth to put Oakland up 6-3.
Hudson allowed five runs and 12 hits in six innings.
Gutierrez left after the seventh with a bruised left calf. He struck out swinging in the second inning, sending his bat flying into the Oakland dugout. A’s manager Art Howe and several players had to jump to avoid it.
