But the Indians couldn't get past the door prize against Kevin Millwood on Thursday night. And when ace C.C. Sabathia and reliever Rafael Betancourt succumbed to the hot-hitting Rangers, the Tribe was on its way to a 9-4 loss and four-game split.

The Indians gave Sabathia an early 4-0 lead by maiming Millwood in a first inning highlighted by David Dellucci's two-run double.

Sabathia, hurt by his defense and his possibly intentional decision to plunk Milton Bradley with a pitch, coughed most of that lead up in the second. After serving up an RBI single to Chris Shelton, he watched Ramon Vazquez's single skate past right fielder Shin-Soo Choo, who overran the ball. Vazquez went all the way to third on the error, and two runs scored to make it 4-3.

The Rangers tied it up in the third on an RBI single from Bradley, who had upset the Indians all week with his hot-dog antics and decision to swipe second base with the game out of hand on Wednesday. In the sixth, the Rangers took the lead when Michael Young scored Gerald Laird from third on an infield single.

The sixth would be Sabathia's last inning of work. He handed a 5-4 deficit over to Betancourt, who was roughed up by Bradley's leadoff homer in the seventh and Vazquez's two-run triple that all but sealed this game. The Indians had long been quieted by Millwood by that point, and they couldn't mount a comeback against the Rangers bullpen.