CLEVELAND (AP) – Matt Lawton scored on a wild pitch by Arthur Rhodes in the ninth inning to give the Cleveland Indians a 4-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday, their third straight win with a late-inning rally.

Omar Vizquel, whose throwing error helped Oakland score twice in the top of the ninth, had a tying RBI double off Rhodes (1-3) as the Indians swept the Athletics with two victories in their last at-bat and an eighth-inning comeback.

Cleveland has won four straight after losing a season-high seven in a row.

Pinch-hitter Lou Merloni sparked the latest rally with a single to open the ninth off Rhodes, who had his second blown save in two days and fourth in 12 chances.

Two outs later, Lawton walked and pinch-runner John McDonald entered for Merloni.

Vizquel then slashed his double to left, scoring McDonald and sending Lawton to third.

After pitching coach Curt Young visited Rhodes on the mound, the left-hander sailed a fastball all the way to the backstop and the Indians poured out the dugout to greet Lawton at home plate.

Rick White (2-0) got three outs in the top of the ninth for the win after Oakland scored twice off Jose Jimenez to take a 3-2 lead.

Bobby Crosby drew a leadoff walk from Jimenez and former Indians minor leaguer Marco Scutaro followed with a bloop single to left over Vizquel. The shortstop threw wildly to third trying to get Crosby, who scored. Scutaro went all the way to third when Jimenez couldn’t track down the ball as it rolled along the warning track behind home plate.

Kotsay, who went 7-for-9 in the three-game series, then singled to left.

Before Kotsay delivered, the Athletics were 1-for-10 in the game and 6-for-33 in the series with runners in scoring position.

Cleveland had taken a 2-1 lead in the eighth on an RBI single by Travis Hafner, who went 6-for-7 in the series.

The blown save by Jimenez was his second of the season and first in two chances since being named the Indians’ closer on Wednesday. Overall, Cleveland’s beleaguered bullpen has 12 blown saves in 17 chances.

But Indians relievers went 3-0 in the series.

Oakland starter Tim Hudson allowed two runs on 11 hits over eight innings. He is 13-1 with a 1.72 ERA over his last 19 daytime starts since June 2002.

Crosby put Oakland ahead 1-0 with the third of three straight two-out singles in the second inning off Cleveland starter Jason Davis.

Cleveland tied it in the third. Vizquel doubled into the right-field corner, advanced on a groundout and scored on a single by Martinez.

Davis allowed one run and six hits over 6 1-3 innings, walking three and striking out a season-high five.

Notes: Oakland C Damian Miller left with a bruised left elbow after being hit by a pitch from Davis in the fourth. … Indians 1B Ben Broussard snapped an 0-for-27 slump with a single off the glove of diving third baseman Eric Chavez in the seventh. … Oakland improved to 10-7 in one-run games.

AP-ES-05-30-04 1727EDT