Indians sweep A's, scoreless streak ends

CLEVELAND (AP) -- An unearned run against Aaron Laffey caused by his own throwing error ended the scoreless streak by Cleveland's starters, but didn't stop their strong of dominate outings.

Laffey pitched the Indians to a 4-2 victory over Oakland yesterday at home, completing a three-game sweep and giving the surging Indians eight victories in ten games. Indians starters recorded 44 and 1/3 innings of shutout ball until the Oakland scored on the second inning error.

Laffey pitched seven innings of five-hit ball to improve to 2-and-2.

Jhonny Peralta homered for the Indians, who moved into the first in the AL Central yesterday. Ryan Garko had an RBI double and Ben Francisco and Travis Hafer had RBI singles in the third.

Greg Smith took the loss to fall to 2-and-3.

Celtics point guard Rondo getting used to playoffs

BOSTON (AP) -- The Cleveland Cavaliers were willing to give up a big 3 by Rajon Rondo to avoid being beaten by the Big Three.

And it cost them.

The second-year point guard, who thrived this season in the shadow of his three All-Star teammates, hit a pair of 3-pointers 46 seconds apart to turn the game around Wednesday night and help the Celtics take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Celtics underwent one of the most dramatic overhauls in NBA history last summer, bringing in Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to join mainstay Paul Pierce in a sort of Big Three 2.0. The only questions going into the season were whether the three stars would be able to share the ball, and whether Rondo would be able to handle the pressure of getting it to them.

Road-weary Celtics searching for win in Cleveland

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) -- It's do-or-do-summertime for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

One more loss, and a second straight Eastern Conference title is history.

One more win, and it's back to Chowderland for Game 7.

After squandering a 14-point lead at Boston in a hail of missed free throws and getting entangled by the Celtics' spiderweb-like defense in Game 5, LeBron James and his teammates are down 3-2 and facing elimination from the NBA playoffs tomorrow night at Quicken Loans Arena.

They'll go into Game 6 shorthanded.

Guard Daniel Gibson, one of the club's best perimeter shooters and a star in last year's postseason, separated his left shoulder going for a loose ball early in the fourth quarter of Game 5 and will need a minimum of one week to recover.

Griffey pays off Fogg in pennies

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Ken Griffey Jr. owed Cincinnati Reds teammate Josh Fogg $1,500, and paying by check just wouldn't do.

So when Fogg arrived in the Reds clubhouse today, he found his locker filled with 150,000 pennies -- 60 boxes, each weighing 16 pounds and containing $25 worth of pennies.

Neither player would say why Griffey owed Fogg the money. Griffey had threatened to pay it off in pennies, but Fogg didn't believe him.

Fogg says he's going to take them out to the bullpen to count them because he's got a lot of time on his hands out there.

Marlins-Reds postponed because of poor weather

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Last night's game between the Florida Marlins and Cincinnati Reds has been postponed because of poor weather.

No makeup date was set for the finale of the scheduled four-game series. The Reds had won the first three games.

Steady rain that wasn't forecast to stop for several hours prompted the postponement. The game was called two hours before its scheduled start.

Reds manager Dusty Baker says Cincinnati's scheduled starter, Matt Belisle, will be skipped. Johnny Cueto will start Friday night against Cleveland.

Baker says Belisle won't pitch again until May 20 against the Dodgers at Los Angeles.