NEW YORK —

Hideki Matsui extended his hitting streak to a career-high 17 games and had his fourth multihit performance in five games as the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 6-3 on Thursday to avoid a three-game sweep. Matsui went 2-for-4 and raised his batting average to .345, but Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer passed him for the AL lead with a .346 average by going 2-for-3 in Thursday’s game against the Chicago White Sox.

Indians reliever Masahide Kobayashi took the mound with the Yankees leading 5-3 in the seventh and allowed a one-out solo homer to Wilson Betemit, the first batter he faced, before retiring the next two to end the inning. Elsewhere, Ichiro went 1-for-4 with an infield single and Kenji Jojima was hitless in three at-bats in the Seattle Mariners’ 5-0 loss to the Texas Rangers.

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