Ramirez, Indians Scalp A's

Manny Ramirez is making it easy on his pitchers by making it tough on opposing staffs.

Ramirez hit a two-run homer, giving him 28 RBIs in April, and the Cleveland Indians defeated the Oakland Athletics 8-5 Tuesday night.

"He's hot right now," said winning pitcher Charles Nagy (3-1). "He's off to a great start. It seems he's picking up right where he left off last year."

Ramirez, who had 145 RBIs in 1998, hit his sixth home run of the season in the first inning against Tom Candiotti. Ramirez is seven RBIs behind the major league record for April set by Juan Gonzalez last year.

"It amazes me that people are amazed by him," Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove said. "He's one of the best players in the game today. There's a lot of good things Manny has done in the last couple of years."

Nagy, who lost to the A's last week in Cleveland, pitched 6 2-3 innings to earn the victory. Mike Jackson got the last out, throwing only one pitch for his fifth save.

"I struggled early with everything, but when the hitters give you a cushion like that you just try to make it stand up," said Nagy.

Candiotti (2-3) left the game with two outs in the first inning because of swelling in his left knee, the same knee that gave him trouble in spring training. He faced two batters after Ramirez homered.

"It's not that bad, it just wasn't stable," said Candiotti. " It was messing up my mechanics. Even the umpire said I looked uncomfortable."

Candiotti expects to make his next start if the swelling goes down.

Cleveland broke open the game with five runs in the third, all against reliever Brad Rigby. David Justice hit a two-run single, and Kenny Lofton, Jim Thome and Travis Fryman also drove in runs.

"I wasn't doing what my mind wanted," said Rigby, "nor was I doing it physically."

ason Giambi hit a pair of run-scoring doubles and also had an RBI grounder for the Athletics. John Jaha hit his fifth home run and an RBI single.

Giambi had three hits for the Athletics, who have lost four of five against Cleveland this year after winning the series last season, 8-3.

Notes: Hideo Nomo, recently released by the Chicago Cubs, worked out for about 15 minutes for Indians manager Mike Hargrove and pitching coach Phil Regan before the game. Nomo, the former NL rookie of the year, will pitch in a simulated game Thursday. ... Oakland's Matt Stairs was held out of the starting lineup for a second straight game due to a groin injury. ... Cleveland shortstop Omar Vizquel was back in the lineup after missing the past three games with a strained right quadriceps. ... Cleveland is 6-0 when Ramirez homers. ... A's Scott Spiezio has reached base safely in all 15 games he's played.

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