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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Travis Fryman and the Cleveland Indians tried to stay optimistic Thursday night after yet another heartbreaking loss dimmed their chances of winning the AL wild card race.
|  | | Corey Koskie broke his bat and grounded into an out in the 10th inning, but drove home the winning run. |
Fryman's dramatic ninth-inning home run gave Cleveland a
reprieve, but the Indians stumbled again, losing to the Minnesota
Twins 4-3 in 10 innings.
"We're not dejected, but kind of somber," Fryman said. "We have to be thankful Oakland and Seattle both lost and we didn't lose ground."
Cleveland, which wasted a 2-0 lead and split the four-game
series against the last-place Twins, remained 1½ games back in the
wild-card race, failing to take advantage of Oakland's 6-3, 14-inning loss to Anaheim or Seattle's 13-6 loss to Texas.
The Indians (87-72) close the regular season at home with a three-game series against Toronto starting Friday.
Oakland (88-70), a half-game behind AL West-leading Seattle (89-70), has three games at home against Texas, then a makeup game Monday night at Tampa Bay, if necessary.
"This was a real tease," Indians shortstop Omar Vizquel said.
"We played one of the most exciting games of the year with the
chance to gain a game."
Sandy Alomar, who flied out to the warning track in center with
one out in the ninth as a pinch-hitter, was more upset.
"I feel like somebody died, my stomach hurts so much," Alomar said. "I was so pumped up. I hit the ball 400 feet and made an out. Then they win like that."
Corey Koskie drove in the go-ahead run with a broken-bat,
bases-loaded, fielder's-choice grounder off Bob Wickman (1-3).
"It was a special feeling for us," Twins manager Tom Kelly
said. "What a ballgame. Very exciting."
Minnesota, which won the season series 8-5, loaded the bases on
two infield hits and an intentional walk. Koskie then grounded a
ball past Wickman that second baseman Roberto Alomar stopped with a
dive behind the bag. He threw to shortstop Omar Vizquel for a
forceout as Luis Rivas scored from third.
Wickman was hit in the right hand by part of the broken bat on
the play and replaced by Steve Karsay, who got the final out.
"It's OK, we've got three games left and I'm ready to pitch," Wickman said. "The loss hurts a lot more than the hand."
Eddie Guardado (7-3) got three outs in the ninth and LaTroy
Hawkins pitched the 10th for his 14th save in 14 chances. Kenny
Lofton singled with one out, pinch-hitter Russell Branyan lined out
to left, and Roberto Alomar singled Lofton to third.
With the sellout crowd chanting "Man-ny! Man-ny!" Manny
Ramirez hit a sharp grounder to second that forced Alomar for the
final out.
"They had their best batter up there," Hawkins said. "I just
tried to throw strikes."
Fryman had hit the first pitch from reliever Bob Wells in the
bottom of the ninth for his 22nd homer, tying the score 3-all. The
ball landed just above the yellow line atop the left-field wall and
originally was ruled a double. With Cleveland manager Charlie
Manuel and several Indians players on the field protesting, the
umpires got together to discuss the call and signaled home run.
"That gave us life," Manuel said. "We put everything we had
into this game, but just got beat. It is tough to take."
The homer deprived Twins starter Eric Milton of what would have been his 14th win. He allowed two runs and six hits in eight innings, struck out nine and walked two.
Cleveland's Bartolo Colon, who has won six straight decisions
since July 26, left with the Indians behind 3-2.
Jim Thome's two-run homer put Cleveland ahead in the second, and fans cheered in the fourth when Oakland's loss was posted on the scoreboard, but seconds later the crowd fell silent as Torii Hunter
hit a two-run double -- Minnesota's first hit -- then scored on
Jacque Jones' single.
Game notes
Alomar extended his hitting streak to 15 games. He has hit
.439 (29-for-66) during the streak. ... Twins second baseman Jay
Canizaro sustained a concussion when he was hit in the head with a
pitch during batting practice. He was examined at a hospital, then
returned to the clubhouse in the second inning. ... Hunter hit .391
(9-for-23) with six RBI against Cleveland in 2000. ... Colon
struck out 10 -- his sixth game of double-digit strikeouts this
season.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Minnesota Clubhouse
Cleveland Clubhouse
Twins' Canizaro OK after getting hit in head during BP
RECAPS
Anaheim 6
Oakland 3
Texas 13
Seattle 6
Baltimore 23
Toronto 1
Minnesota 4
Cleveland 3
Tampa Bay 11
NY Yankees 3
Boston 7
Chi. White Sox 6
Kansas City 8
Detroit 5
Florida 7
Montreal 4
Philadelphia 4
Chicago Cubs 2
Arizona 12
Colorado 3
Cincinnati 8
Milwaukee 1
St. Louis 7
San Diego 6
Pittsburgh 3
Houston 2
NY Mets 8
Atlanta 2
San Francisco 5
Los Angeles 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Charlie Manuel feels that his team has not taken advantage of the opportunities given to it.
wav: 182 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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