CLEVELAND(AP) -- Shin-Soo Choo gave his high school baseball coach
a fitting tribute.

Choo learned before batting practice that his coach had died of
cancer. Then he homered twice and drove in a career-high seven
runs in a 15-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Friday
night that snapped Cleveland's five-game losing streak.

"I'll never forget this game," said Choo, who helped South Korea
to the championship game of the World Baseball Classic in March.

"If I was told before the game I would do this, I wouldn't
believe it," he added. "He was almost a like a second dad."

Choo had an RBI single, two-run double, three-run homer and
capped his night with a solo shot, his 12th. It was Choo's
second career multihomer game and the most RBIs by a Cleveland
player since Grady Sizemore drove in seven Aug. 21 against
Kansas City.

Choo arrived early at Progressive Field to work with hitting
coach Derek Shelton. He had watched three hours of video on the
off-day Thursday and wanted to make some adjustments at the
plate - even though he had raised his average to .292 by hitting
.309 over his previous 48 games.

"Why change?" Choo responded to a question. "Because I want to
get better."

Cleveland, with the worst record in the AL at 32-49, could use
it. The Indians won for only the third time in 16 games.

Asdrubal Cabrera had three RBIs in the Indians' biggest output
since a 22-4 win at Yankee Stadium on April 18. They scored only
13 runs and batted .195 during their five-game losing skid.

David Huff (4-3) gave up five doubles, but only three runs over
six innings to improve to 4-1 in his last six starts.

Oakland, which had given up only 10 runs over its previous four
games, opened a nine-game trip by losing for the seventh time in
nine games.

"Cleveland hasn't been swinging the bats that great lately,"
Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "We've been throwing the ball
pretty well. It happens. It's one game."

Rookie Trevor Cahill (5-7) was wild and was hurt by some shaky
fielding. The right-hander gave up five earned runs over 3 2-3
innings, walking four. Three more runs scored after two throwing
errors by third baseman Bobby Crosby.

"When you get behind in the count, they can sit dead red,"
Cahill said. "They know what's coming and they usually hit it."

The Athletics scored in each of the first two innings to go up
2-0. Matt Holliday had an RBI groundout in the first, and Nomar
Garciaparra a run-scoring double in the second. Huff stranded
Garciaparra by getting three straight strikeouts.

"Huff continues to come around as a big-league starter," Indians
manager Eric Wedge said. "A couple of innings could have got
away from him, but he adjusted and worked through it."

Travis Hafner hit his ninth homer to get Cleveland to 2-1 in the
bottom half.

Two bad throws by Crosby in the third helped the Indians go
ahead, 4-2.

Ben Francisco reached when Crosby fielded his slow roller and
threw wildly. Francisco scored on a two-out single by Choo to
tie it at 2. After Hafner walked to load the bases, Jhonny
Peralta topped a bouncer to Crosby, whose throw was offline to
first baseman Garciaparra as two runs scored.

Jack Cust's RBI single got Oakland to 4-3 in the fourth.

Choo's two-run double keyed a four-run bottom half. Cabrera and
Peralta had RBI singles in the rally.

Cabrera's two-run double off Santiago Casilla in the fifth put
Cleveland ahead 10-3. Choo's three-run homer to right-center off
former Indians left-hander Craig Breslow, made it 13-3.

Sizemore had an RBI double in the Indians' sixth. He went 2 for
2 with three walks, breaking an 0-for-11 skid.

NOTES: Indians RHP Matt Herges said after the game he had been
designated for assignment. His roster spot is expected to be
taken by RHP Winston Abreu on Saturday. Abreu was acquired from
Tampa Bay in a deal for RHP John Meloan on Thursday. ... Oakland
SS Orlando Cabrera went 0 for 5, breaking a 14-game hitting
streak. ... A's 2B Mark Ellis was a defensive replacement in the
sixth. He got to Cleveland during the game after going to
Oakland to be with wife Sarah. She gave birth to a girl, the
couple's second child, on Thursday. ... Indians LHP Aaron Laffey
gave up seven runs over four innings in an injury rehab start at
Triple-A Columbus. He's been out since May 23 with a strained
oblique. ... Indians RHP Rafael Betancourt followed with one
scoreless inning. He has been out since June 1 with a strained
groin.