Thome homers twice as Indians beat Sox

BOSTON (AP) -- Jim Thome has hit behind some powerful cleanup

hitters and now he's headed for a better slugging season than any

of them.

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Thome homered twice and Juan Gonzalez drove in three runs as the

Cleveland Indians sent the Boston Red Sox to their ninth straight

loss, 8-5 Tuesday night.

Thome leads the AL with 45 homers, tying Manny Ramirez for third

most in club history. Ramirez, now with Boston, hit fourth for

Cleveland last year. Gonzalez, whose career high is 47 homers,

holds that spot these days.

"They're both a pleasure to watch hit," Thome said. "I have

the best seat in the house. I'm in the on-deck circle."

On Tuesday, that spot belonged to Ellis Burks, batting sixth

behind Thome. Burks contributed a sacrifice fly as Cleveland went

ahead 4-3 with a three-run fourth inning and Bartolo Colon (12-10)

pitched well enough to win.

"He does that often," Indians manager Charlie Manuel said.

"He's close to being out of the game and he'll bounce back."

Colon left with a 5-4 lead with two outs in the sixth after he

felt tightness in his elbow, an injury that didn't appear to be

serious.

Bob Wickman, who felt a twinge in his side as he warmed up,

picked up his 29th save as Cleveland took a season-high seven-game

lead over Minnesota in the AL Central.

Boston's longest losing streak since June 1994 has dropped it

out of legitimate playoff contention, a season-high 9½ games behind

the New York Yankees in the AL East.

"It's terribly frustrating," Boston's Scott Hatteberg said.

"We've come so far and put ourselves in a good position to make a

move, and we're just not doing it."

The last seven losses have been against division leaders

Cleveland and New York. Boston's next six games are against them.

"We knew we had our work cut out for us in our series of games

with these guys," Red Sox manager Joe Kerrigan said. "Did I

foresee us losing this many games? No. Nobody in that clubhouse

did."

Thome, who had three RBI, hit his 44th homer in the second

against Hideo Nomo (11-7), winless in seven starts since July 26.

"Nomo's really been tough on me," Thome said.

The Red Sox, who had scored four runs in their previous five

games, went ahead 3-1 when they batted around in the bottom of the

inning.

Boston loaded the bases with no outs on a walk to Dante Bichette

and singles by Brian Daubach and Shea Hillenbrand. Consecutive

singles by Mike Lansing, Jose Offerman and Hatteberg produced only

three runs as the runners moved up one base each time.

The Indians went ahead with their own three-run inning in the

fourth. Omar Vizquel and Roberto Alomar walked and Gonzalez doubled

in a run. Thome and Burks followed with sacrifice flies for a 4-3

lead.

Boston tied it in the fourth when Offerman doubled and advanced

on groundouts to second base by Hatteberg and Trot Nixon.

Thome came through again in the sixth, hitting his 45th homer

420 feet into the right-field seats with two outs for a 5-4 lead.

And Colon retired six of the last seven batters he faced.

"He gets on a roll and starts feeling good," Hatteberg said.

The Indians made it 7-4 in the seventh, putting runners at

second and third on a double by Einar Diaz, a walk to Kenny Lofton

and a sacrifice by Vizquel against Rich Garces. Tim Wakefield came

in and got Alomar to pop up for the second out, but Gonzalez

followed with a two-run single.

Game notes

Wakefield recorded his 1,000th career strikeout when he

fanned Burks in the eighth. ... Colon beat Nomo for the second time

in six days. Last Thursday in Cleveland, Colon allowed one run in

six innings in a 3-1 win. ... Ramirez went 2-for-5 and is hitting

.333 against Cleveland and .444 against Colon this season. ... The

Indians played their 15th errorless game in their last 22. ...

Colon improved to 9-2 on the road. ... Thome walked in the ninth

inning for his 857th career walk to tie Tris Speaker for the team

record.