By Brian Dulik

CLEVELAND — Oakland rookie Vin Mazzaro didn’t have much trouble shutting down the top seven batters in the Indians lineup.
The two guys at the bottom of the order were a different story.
Luis Valbuena and Ben Francisco rocked Mazzaro for six hits, three runs and three RBIs, leading the Tribe to a 5-2 victory over the Athletics on Saturday night.
“We have a great lineup when we play to our potential,” said Francisco, whose two-run homer in the third inning put Cleveland ahead for good. “If we get everybody hitting at the same time, we can be pretty dangerous because we’ve got a lot of great hitters on this team.”
On this evening, though, the “great hitters” were batting eighth and ninth.
Second baseman Valbuena, batting .196 on the year, was 3-for-3, scored twice and knocked in the Indians’ first run.
Left fielder Francisco, whose average had plummeted to .237, also went 3-for-3 with a single, double and home run. He added one stolen base, one run and two RBIs.
Since the rest of the Tribe was just 4-for-24 against Mazzaro (2-4, 3.59 ERA) and relievers Craig Breslow and Brad Ziegler, the heroes for the home team were pretty easy to spot.
“This game is never fun or easy when it’s going bad,” said Francisco, who celebrated by watching the postgame fireworks display from the dugout. “I’m sorry it took so long to come around, but we’ve still got three months to go and a lot of baseball to play.”
The victory was Cleveland’s second straight over Oakland and gave it back-to-back wins at Progressive Field for the first time since June 11-12.
It also featured a solid pitching performance by Carl Pavano (7-7, 5.36 ERA) and sterling work out of the bullpen by Tony Sipp, Joe Smith and Kerry Wood, who pitched a perfect ninth for his 10th save.
Pavano went 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts. The right-hander retired 11 in a row after spotting the Athletics a 1-0 first-inning lead, breaking a three-game losing streak in the process.
“In the beginning, I got in some bad habits, but I was able to get back doing what I needed to,” Pavano said. “When that happened, it seemed like the balls were hit at guys and we had some quick hands today. Then we got a great effort from the pen, so everything came together.
“Winning is great, you can’t replace it. We’ve just got to keep moving forward.”
Mazzaro — one of the better pitching prospects in the American League — surrendered five runs and 10 hits in six innings for the Athletics (33-46), who must win today to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Indians (33-49).
“It’s nice to go out and do your job the way you’d like to do it,” Wood said. “This is the way you’d like to see it happen every day.”
Oakland took a 1-0 lead just three hitters into the game when Matt Holliday’s sacrifice fly scored Adam Kennedy.
Cleveland tied the game in the third when Valbuena’s single to left-center scored Ryan Garko, then went ahead 3-1 when Francisco followed with a 343-foot shot to the home run porch.
Grady Sizemore tacked on another run in the sixth with a leadoff homer to dead center. The 412-foot blast landed in the first row of shrubs and made it 4-1.
Oakland pulled within 4-2 in the seventh on Orlando Cabrera’s third hit, a two-strike, two-out single to score Mark Ellis. After allowing a single to Holliday, Pavano was replaced by Sipp, who retired Jason Giambi to quell the threat.
Sizemore then restored the Indians’ three-run lead in the bottom of the frame with an RBI groundout that plated Valbuena and closed out the scoring.
“That was a good big league baseball game,” Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. “Their guy (Mazzaro) is pretty good, but there were some good things happening tonight for us at the plate. Pavano also was good again and I thought he got better as the game went on.
“This has been a real good couple of days for us. We’ll see if we can keep it going.”
Contact Brian Dulik at brisports@hotmail.com.

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