Indians 5, Tigers 4

CLEVELAND – Scott Elarton won for the first time in 18 starts, and Casey Blake’s two-run homer in the seventh inning sent the Cleveland Indians to a 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers.

Elarton (1-2) hadn’t won since Sept. 19, 2003, for Colorado. The right-hander went 0-6 this season for the Rockies, who released him on May 17.

And for six innings, it appeared as if his winless streak would continue. But with the Tigers leading 4-3, Blake connected off Jamie Walker (1-4) for his 17th homer to put the Indians ahead.

Blake had three RBIs for Cleveland (52-50), which is two games over .500 for the first time since April 27, 2002, when the Indians were 13-11.

Elarton allowed four runs and six hits in a season-high seven innings. He walked one and struck out five before giving way to Rafael Betancourt, who worked the eighth.

Bob Wickman closed Elarton’s long-awaited win by working the ninth for his first save since July 20, 2002, five months before he underwent Tommy John surgery on his elbow. Wickman missed all of last season, and was only recently reinstalled as the Indians’ closer.

Carlos Guillen hit a two-run homer and Jason Smith added a solo shot for the Tigers.

With the Indians trailing 4-3 and Elarton likely done for the night, Victor Martinez singled with one out in the seventh. Blake, who had an RBI single in the third, went to a full count before pulling his homer into the seats in left.

Blake’s 17 homers match his total from last season.

He also made a nice defensive play in the eighth, grabbing a deflection off Betancourt to throw out Dmitri Young on a close play at first.

Young was ejected for arguing by first-base umpire Sam Holbrook, who needed Tigers coach Mick Kelleher and manager Alan Trammell to keep Young off him.

Guillen’s two-run homer, his 17th, gave the Tigers a 4-2 lead in the sixth.

Smith led off with a single and Guillen jumped on Elarton’s first pitch, driving it into the lower seats in right. Elarton has given up 18 homers this season – eight with Colorado before he was picked up by Cleveland on June 12.

The Indians closed within 4-3 in the sixth on two singles and a pair of walks by starter Nate Robertson.

Elarton gave up some hard outs, but retired the Tigers 1-2-3 in each of the first three innings before Detroit tied it 2-2 in the fourth on Smith’s homer on Young’s sacrifice fly.

The Indians quickly took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Matt Lawton’s RBI single. Cleveland loaded the bases, but Lou Merloni grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Blake’s two-out RBI single made it 2-0 in the third.

Notes: Elarton’s 17-start winless streak wasn’t as bad as Matt Keough’s slide. Keough went his first 23 starts before getting a win in 1979 for Oakland. … A stiff neck kept Indians DH Travis Hafner out of the starting lineup for the second straight game. Coco Crisp DH’d for the third time this season. … Indians SS Omar Vizquel moved into a tie for seventh place with Ken Keltner on the club’s career hits list with 1,561.

AP-ES-07-28-04 2139EDT