Marlins avoid sweep by Braves

ATLANTA -- Preston Wilson and Derrek Lee each hit two-run homers in the fifth inning and Cliff Floyd later had a three-run shot as the Florida Marlins avoided a sweep, beating the Atlanta Braves 8-3 Monday night.

Florida snapped Atlanta's season-high four-game winning streak and also denied the Braves their first four-game series sweep in almost five years.

Brad Penny (2-1) pitched six-plus innings for the win, allowing eight hits and two earned runs.

Floyd, who missed the previous two games with tonsillitis, finished off the Braves in the ninth. He homered with two outs against Kerry Ligtenberg.

In another sign of baseball's attendance woes, the game drew only 21,461 -- the smallest crowd in Turner Field's 6-year history.

Atlanta starter Kevin Millwood (2-2) was constantly behind in the count, throwing 26 pitches in the third inning alone. He was finally chased in the fifth.

Indians 4, White Sox 2

CLEVELAND -- Danys Baez pitched 5 1-3 shutout innings in the cold and Travis Fryman and Russell Branyan homered as the Cleveland Indians snapped a six-game losing streak Monday night, beating the Chicago White Sox 4-2.

Finally home after an 0-6 trip to Chicago and Minnesota, the Indians improved to 7-0 at Jacobs Field this season and ended their longest losing skid in two years.

Fryman and Branyan each hit two-run homers off Mark Buehrle (4-1), who had gotten an average of nine runs of support in each of his first four starts.

But the White Sox did nothing against Baez (3-1), who has been moved into the starting rotation this season after pitching in relief a year ago.

Bob Wickman pitched the ninth for his sixth save.

Royals 6, Tigers 0

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Paul Byrd pitched a six-hitter to lead Kansas City over Detroit, the only major league team with fewer victories than the Royals.

Byrd (4-0), who has all but two of the Royals' wins, became the first Kansas City pitcher to win his first four decisions since Bret Saberhagen started 6-0 in 1987.

The right-hander struck out four in his first shutout since last Aug. 17 against Houston. In 28 1-3 innings, the former Philadelphia Phillies All-Star has not walked a single batter.

Carlos Beltran had a homer and a double for the Royals, who got four runs in the first off Mark Redman (0-3).

-- From wire reports