Baseball: Soriano stays on record pace for Yankees

The all-conquering New York Yankees continue to march on at the top of the American League East Division after putting the Indians to the sword in a 19-run thriller in Cleveland on Saturday.

Alfonso Soriano hit two home runs while the catcher Jorge Posada hit his fifth career Grand Slam as the Yankees pounded out 15 hits in a 14-5 romp.

Soriano led off the game with his seventh lead-off home run of the season. He is two away from Rickey Henderson's 1986 team record. "Everybody shakes their head," the Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "If the season ended today, he would figure prominently in the MVP vote. He has a great amount of confidence."

Soriano said: "I go to the plate and I try to hit it hard. I'm just trying to get on base for the team. I wasn't thinking about hitting more homers. When you start thinking about it, you don't hit them."

The lowly Texas Rangers also enjoyed a run-glut as they ended a four-game losing streak with a 8-1 win in Minnesota The Twins, who head the American League Central Division, managed to take the lead in the first inning but Rafael Palmeiro had a pair of two-run doubles and Alex Rodriguez hit his 29th homer and drove in three runs to lead the Rangers to victory.

Minnesota's Central Division rivals the Kansas City Royals were celebrating a rare success as well, beating the Anaheim Angels 4-0.