ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- The Cleveland Indians are 17½ games out in the AL Central, so they might as well take a glimpse into the future. Enter Carl Sadler and Coco Crisp.

Crisp, playing his third major league game, got three hits for
the second straight night and Sadler earned his first big league
victory in relief as Indians beat Anaheim 9-4 Saturday night,
preventing the Angels from regaining first place in the AL West.

Crisp recorded his first two RBI with a third-inning double and
a fifth-inning single against Jarrod Washburn. It was some night for his mother, father and grandmother, who gave him his nickname and were among the 39,866 in attendance.

"This is the happiest time of my life right now,'' said Crisp, who grew up in the Los Angeles area and attended Pierce Junior College in Woodland Hills, Calif.

"It's every good word that you can possibly think of, wrapped into one. That's what's going in right now. Baseball has its ups and downs, and this is my up time. Hopefully, I can keep this up as long as possible and shorten up those down times.''

Crisp, 22, is 6-for-14 since getting promoted on Wednesday from
Double-A Akron when outfielder Milton Bradley had to undergo an
emergency appendectomy. He came to Cleveland as the player to be
named in the July 19 trade that sent Chuck Finley to St. Louis for
Luis Garcia.

"Everything that I heard from our Double-A manager was positive,'' interim manager Joel Skinner said. "It's exciting to see a young guy come up and have the success he's had the first few games.''

Jim Thome and Travis Fryman homered and Omar Vizquel triggered a
six-run seventh inning with a tiebreaking RBI single against Jarrod
Washburn (15-4) to help end Anaheim's six-game winning streak. The
Angels lead the wild card race by 1½ games over Oakland. Anaheim is
a half-game behind Seattle in the division.

Sadler (1-0) allowed one hit over 1 1/3 innings. The left-hander struck out Darin Erstad on three pitches with the bases loaded to end the sixth after relieving starter Jason Phillips.

"It's my job to get lefties out, and fortunately I did,'' said Sadler, who has yet to allow a run in seven appearances spanning 6 2/3 innings. "My fastballs were good, but the curveball was my out pitch for him and I just went at him. I've been in tough situations like that, and I've gotten out of them. Hopefully it continues to be that way.''

The Indians had two on and two out when Vizquel drove in John McDonald with a single to right for his fifth hit in 52 at-bats, putting the Indians ahead to stay at 4-3.

Ellis Burks followed with an infield single, but Crisp and
Vizquel scored when David Eckstein tried for a force at second and
threw the ball past Adam Kennedy.

"I probably should have thrown to first instead of second, and that would have solved all the problems,'' Eckstein said.

Al Levine replaced Washburn, giving up a walk and Fryman's
three-run homer that capped the rally.

Thome gave the Indians a 3-2 lead, hitting his 37th home run with one out in the sixth. But Troy Glaus tied it in the bottom half with his 21st homer, a towering drive that struck the left-field pole.

Einar Diaz singled with two outs in the third and scored Cleveland's first run on Crisp's double to left-center. Crisp tied the score at 2 in the fifth, checking his swing on a high inside pitch and hitting a flare over the infield to score McDonald.

"I had a couple of pitches where the selection wasn't right, and it came up and bit me,'' Washburn said. "Against a good veteran lineup like they have, when you make the wrong pitch, they're going to make you pay for it.

"Right now, in the pennant race we're in, we can't afford
mistakes. We won't make the playoffs with me pitching like this.''

Washburn lost for only the second time in his last 17 decisions,
allowing seven runs and nine hits over 6 2-3 innings. Two of his
defeats this season have been against the Indians -- including
opening day.

"Actually, I didn't know his record, so that's a good thing,'' Crisp said of Washburn. "But I just went up there, tried to relax, took a deep breath and tried to hit the ball hard. And wherever it goes, it goes. I tried to hold up on that checked swing, and it was just a lucky charm. It fell in and I got an RBI.''

Adam Kennedy hit a solo homer in the ninth for Anaheim against
Terry Mulholland.

Game notes
Phillips, making his first start for the Indians since July
19, allowed three runs, seven hits and four walks in 5 2-3 innings.
... Angels RF Tim Salmon, who missed his sixth game since being hit
in the hand by a pitch last Saturday at Toronto, is not expected to
take any meaningful batting practice until next Tuesday at the
earliest.