CLEVELAND – Scott Elarton pitched well in his first start in 10 days and Travis Hafner homered as the Cleveland Indians beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 on Saturday night, extending their winning streak to eight games.

The Indians have won 11 of 12 since June 4 and have their longest streak since winning 10 in a row in April 2002.

Elarton (4-2) had not pitched since June 8, and fell behind 1-0 in a 24-pitch first inning. He then shut down the Diamondbacks until leaving with one out and one on in the seventh.

The right-hander was disappointed after being moved back a few days in the rotation when Kevin Millwood came off the disabled list Wednesday night. He gave up only one run and six hits over 6 1-3 innings, walking two with three strikeouts.

Elarton improved to 4-0 with a 2.47 ERA in six starts since May 17.

Scott Sauerbeck retired both batters he faced in the seventh, Arthur Rhodes allowed two hits in a scoreless eighth and Bob Wickman worked the ninth for his 19th save in 22 chances.

Elarton gave up a leadoff single to Craig Counsell and walked Chad Tracy to open the game. Two outs later, Tony Clark gave Arizona a 1-0 lead with an RBI single.

Hafner hit the first pitch from Brandon Webb (7-3) in the bottom of the second into the Cleveland bullpen in center field for his ninth homer to tie it at 1.

Cleveland went ahead in the fifth after Casey Blake made a fine defensive play to end the top of the inning.

Blake got a standing ovation after diving into the stands down the left-field line to snare a foul ball hit by Troy Glaus. Blake, who was Cleveland’s regular third baseman for two years before being switched to the outfield this season, was back at his old position for the first time in 2005 as Aaron Boone got a day off.

Blake beat out a slow roller for a single to start the Indians’ two-run fifth.

One out later, Jhonny Peralta walked and Grady Sizemore followed with an RBI double into the right-field corner. Peralta then scored on an RBI groundout by Coco Crisp to make it 3-1.

Webb fell to 1-3 in five starts since May 26. He gave up three runs and five hits over eight innings, walking three and striking out six.

Notes: Cleveland is 12-2 in interleague play and has outscored NL teams 83-38 this year. … Former hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky threw a strike when he tossed out the ceremonial first pitch. … Sizemore is batting .474 (27-for-57) with 11 RBIs in his last 13 games. … Glaus went 1-for-4 and is hitting .400 (8-for-20) over the first five games of the Diamondbacks’ 10-game trip. … Before the game, Arizona put RHP Russ Ortiz on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right rib cage. Ortiz had made 226 consecutive starts since 1998.

AP-ES-06-18-05 2134EDT

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