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MINNEAPOLIS -- When a routine single skipped under the glove of Michael Bourn and started rolling toward the wall, things couldve gotten ugly for the Cleveland Indians. Zach McAllister made sure that didnt happen. McAllister won for the first time in almost three months, Ryan Raburn homered and the Indians beat the Minnesota Twins 5-2 on Tuesday night. With Minnesota down 5-1 in the sixth inning, Joe Mauer scored from first base on a single by Justin Morneau that skipped under the glove of centre fielder Michael Bourn for an error and rolled all the way to the warning track. McAllister fanned Josh Willingham and Oswaldo Arcia to end the inning and strand Mauer at third, getting several pats on the back from teammates as he walked back to the dugout. "Our defence has been great for us all year long. For us as pitchers, its our job to pick them up when they dont always do what we expect of them," McAllister said. "For us to be able to pick them up, its exciting and its great to know that they have our back and we have them when we need to." Cleveland had lost seven of its last eight and posted a 6.00 ERA during that stretch. Coming off his worst start of the season Thursday against Detroit, McAllister (5-7) bounced back and held Minnesota to one earned run and four hits in six innings. He struck out seven in his first win since May 23. Cleveland manager Terry Francona said the sixth inning was the highlight of McAllisters night. "Were getting to a point where youre thinking about maybe going to the bullpen," Francona said. "Hes up around 100 pitches and guys have seen him a couple times. He executed very well there." Josh Willingham homered for the Twins in the second inning, Minnesotas 23rd straight run from a home run -- an MLB record. But the Twins went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and are now 3-for-48 in those situations over their last six games. Mauer scoring on Bourns error was the first time Minnesota scored without a home run since Aug. 7. "We cant rely on home runs all the time," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Its nice when we hit them but were going to have to drive in some of these runs with less than two outs and a mans on third. Unfortunately we didnt do it again tonight." The Indians led 3-1 in the sixth when Samuel Deduno (7-6) hit Carlos Santana in the toe with a pitch. Plate umpire Adam Hamari initially ruled that Dedunos pitch didnt hit him, but awarded Santana first base after conferring with the rest of his crew and changing the call. Rayburn then lined a home run into the left-centre field bleachers, a much-needed blast for a team that got shut out on Monday night by rookie Andrew Albers making his second major-league start. "You go through stretches where you cant get a hit. Its not like we havent been swinging the bat well," Rayburn said. "Last night, I dont know how many great plays they made off of us. Thats part of the game." McAllisters strong start was a boost for an Indians team that entered Tuesday in third place instead of second in the AL Central for the first time since June 17. After McAllister exited, Cody Allen and Joe Smith each pitched a perfect inning. Chris Perez allowed a two-out double to Arcia in the ninth, but retired Trevor Plouffe to end the game and record his 19th save in 22 chances. Bourn, Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley added RBIs for Cleveland. "The game just didnt seem like it went anywhere. I wish I had more to offer than that," Gardenhire said. "I think about the game and nothing really happened too awfully exciting. Sammy gave up the runs, and we didnt do anything offensively." NOTES: The Indians signed former Blue Jays No. 1 pick David Cooper to a minor league deal and sent him to their spring training complex in Goodyear, Ariz. The 26-year-old first-baseman is expected to join Triple-A Columbus later this month. ... Minnesota acquired LHP Miguel Sulbaran from the Dodgers to complete the trade for C Drew Butera. The 19-year-old was 6-4 with a 3.01 ERA in 23 games for the Dodgers low Class A team. Minnesota GM Terry Ryan said he expects Sulbaran to be a starter in the Twins system. ... Twins rookie Kyle Gibson (2-3, 6.43 ERA) will try to pitch more than six innings for the first time in his career in Wednesdays series finale. ... Carlos Carrasco (0-4, 7.75 ERA) starts for Cleveland and will try to win for the first time since beating Arizona on June 29, 2011. Carrasco has lost his last 10 decisions. Bob Nystrom Jersey .05 million next season unless Graham and the Saints subsequently agree on a long-term deal. The designation was released Monday after the deadline passed for NFL teams to use franchise or transition tags on players becoming free agents. Denis Potvin Jersey . 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HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- A hard crash with 10 laps remaining in the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway crumpled up?Carl Edwards Toyota as badly as his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship hopes.It also paved the way for Jimmie Johnson to claim his record-tying seventh Cup series title.Running second late in Sundays race, Edwards aggressively moved to block?Joey Loganos Team Penske Ford on a Lap 257 restart, only for the two cars to make contact as they speared toward the inside wall on the approach to Turn 1.Logano slowed but regained control of his car and continued with minor damage, while Edwards car shot backward up the track to be knocked slightly airborne by?Kasey Kahnes Chevrolet.Six other cars were swept in, including Martin Truex Jr.s Toyota, which briefly caught fire. None of the drivers were injured.The race was red-flagged for 31 minutes and 9 seconds.Edwards immediately radioed his crew to take responsibility for the accident, saying, Thats 100 percent on me.Edwards also stopped at Loganos pit to apologize to crew chief Todd Gordon and the No. 22 team.I just pushed the issue as far as I could because I figured that was the race there, Edwards said of the pivotal restart. Joey just timed it perfectly, he moved down. I was probably a little optimistic, but I thought I could clear him or force him to lift.I just thought I had just a little more time, but he drove down as far as a guy could be expected to drive down, and thats how it ended.Edwards was classified 34th, last among the four championship contenderrs in the Homestead race.dddddddddddd. Logano, meanwhile, pitted for repairs and fresh tires and quickly tore through the field from eighth place to third on the subsequent restart, only for the caution flag to fly again.Logano was not positioned well for the final restart, and he finished the race in fourth place, second in the championship to Johnson. Kyle Busch, the remaining title contender, ended up sixth in the race and third in championship.Anytime you put so much on the line and you have a late-race restart, you know its gonna get crazy. Then you add two or three [restarts] on top of that and its gonna get crazier, Logano remarked.I understand why he had to throw that block, and he understands why I had to make the move, because that was for the win, Logano added. Its the only move I had, and Im not going to look back at it and second-guess that move. That was the only play I had.Despite the damaged car, Logano still had a shot at winning the race and the championship thanks to quick work by his pit crew. But once out front, Johnson drove away to a relatively unchallenged victory.We just came up a little bit short, and it hurts, Logano said. When Carl and I got into each other there, it just pretty much parted the seas for the 48 [Johnson] to run through there and gain a couple spots and put himself in position to win.He was in the right place at the right time, and that was good for him. ' ' '