Dodgers 4, Indians 3

CLEVELAND (AP) Paul Lo Duca extended his hitting streak, made peace with Milton Bradley and was part of a wild play.

It all helped Hideo Nomo get a well-deserved win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Cleveland 4-3 on Sunday to complete a 6-0 interleague trip in which they gave up just 11 runs.

``When I used to come here with Toronto, we'd normally get swept,'' said Dodgers outfielder Shawn Green, who drove in three runs for Los Angeles.

Baserunning blunders in the eighth inning helped contribute to the Indians' fourth straight loss and ninth in 12 games.

``It turned into a circus,'' Green said.

An anticipated Lo Duca and Bradley show, however, closed quickly. The two exchanged verbal barbs during and after Saturday's game, but as Bradley stepped to the plate in the second inning, he gently tapped his bat on Lo Duca's shinguards and they had a friendly exchange.

``I always do that first time up,'' Bradley said. ``I say hello to the umpire and catcher. Lo Duca said he might have overreacted and I said, 'No big deal. It's a new day, a new ballgame.'''

Lo Duca went 2-for-4, extending his hitting streak to 23 games.

``The streak is getting pretty fun,'' Lo Duca said. ``Milton said, 'What's up?' and said he was sorry and I said I was sorry.''

Nomo (7-6) also apologized for not winning more games.

``I'm not satisfied with how I'm pitching,'' the right-hander said after allowing one run and two hits while striking out eight and walking one. He won for the first time in four outings since May 24 Los Angeles averaged just 2.8 runs in his previous eight games.

``I'm happy about today,'' Nomo said. ``But we've lost a lot of games I've pitched and I want to win every one.''

The Dodgers nearly blew a 4-1 lead after Nomo left.

Cleveland loaded the bases in the eighth against relievers Paul Quantrill and Tom Martin. Brandon Phillips scored on a wild pitch and Coco Crisp walked to reload the bases.

``I stunk,'' Martin said. ``But then what happened, I had to see it again on tape to find out how.''

With one out, Bradley grounded a sharp single off second baseman Jolbert Cabrera's glove to make it 4-3, but Matt Lawton was trapped rounding third.

``The third base coach told me to go, so I went,'' Lawton said. ``Then he said stop, so I stopped. There was nothing I could do.''

Shortstop Cesar Izturis quickly retrieved the ball and got Lawton in a rundown. Meanwhile, Crisp advanced toward third and Bradley to second. But right before Lawton was tagged by Lo Duca, Crisp suddenly retreated back to second and he was tagged out, too.

``I didn't know what was going on,'' Lo Duca said.

Eric Gagne pitched the ninth for his 26th save and 34th straight dating to last season.

``That was awesome, wasn't it?'' Gagne said of the wild double play. ``We'll take a play like that every day.''

Dave Roberts led off the game by bunting past Indians starter Billy Traber (2-4) for a single. He took second as Lo Duca struck out on a wild pitch in the dirt. After Green walked, Roberts stole third and scored on a single by Brian Jordan.

Cleveland tied it in the third. Phillips got a bunt single and went to third on a hit-and-run single to right by Jhonny Peralta the shortstop's first major league hit. Phillips scored on a groundout by Crisp.

That was the first of 12 consecutive outs recorded by Nomo until Bradley walked to open the seventh.

Los Angeles went ahead 2-1 in the sixth. Roberts walked, advanced on a wild pitch, took third on a single by Lo Duca and scored when second baseman Phillips mishandled a grounder by Green.

Green hit a two-run double off reliever David Riske with the bases loaded in the seventh to give the Dodgers a 4-1 lead.< ^Notes:@ The Indians have lost four straight and nine of 12. ... Nomo has allowed three runs or fewer in 12 of 15 starts and worked at least seven innings 14 times.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)