CLEVELAND -- Ugly, sloppy or abbreviated, the Cleveland Indians will take wins any way they can get them right now. This is no time to be picky. This is playoff time. Zach McAllister lasted five innings and the Indians got two unearned gift runs from Houston in a 2-1, rain-shortened victory over the Astros on Friday night and moved into one of the two AL wild-card spots. The game was delayed for 1 hour, 9 minutes before the umpires decided to call it after 6 1-2 innings. Shortly after Clevelands win, Texas lost to Kansas City, allowing the Indians to jump the Rangers in the wild-card standings. Its the first time the Indians have been atop the ever-changing board since Aug. 4. "For us to be able to get this win, regardless of how we got it, its all about the Ws at this point," first baseman Nick Swisher said. "And if we keep winning, the season keeps going, and hopefully everyone here in Cleveland gets real happy." The Indians, who entered the night trailing both Tampa Bay and Texas by one-half game for a wild-card spot, scored an unearned run in the second and fourth innings off Brett Oberholtzer (4-4). McAllister (9-9) allowed just one run and got a key double play in the fifth as well as a diving catch by centre fielder Michael Bourn in the first inning, a defensive gem that set the tone. Cleveland also got two innings of hitless relief from Marc Rzepczynski and Bryan Shaw, who struck out three of four batters he faced for his first save. Brandon Laird homered for the inept Astros, who committed three errors, lost their seventh straight and fell to 51-103 -- four losses shy of matching the club record set last season. "Errors are a part of the game," Astros manager Bo Porter said. "We all know that, but at the same time you expect those plays to be made in a major league baseball game." The win improved Clevelands record to 48-18 against teams currently below .500 -- the majors best mark -- and perhaps the biggest reason the Indians have a chance to make the playoffs for the first time since 2007. With a very favourable schedule ahead, the Indians were hoping to capitalize on a four-game series against baseballs worst team to stay in the wild-card fray. They needed 11 innings on Thursday to finally beat Houston 2-1, and then got a major assist from the awful Astros -- and Mother Nature -- to win again. As they waited out the delay, Indians fans kept tabs on the Tampa Bay-Baltimore and Texas-Kansas City games on Progressive Fields giant scoreboard. It was a similar scene in Clevelands clubhouse as players stayed tuned to the action elsewhere. "Theres 18 TVs in here, theres games all over the place," Swisher said. "Theres games you might not even want to be watching that are on. Right now, its watch time. Weve got ourselves in a great spot and just to be able to be here, a complete turnaround from last year, its exciting. Its nice. It feels like people are jumping on board right now and its the perfect time to do it." McAllister worked in and out of trouble in the fifth, when his slim lead seemed about to vanish. The Astros loaded the bases on a single, walk and single, but the right-hander got leadoff hitter Jonathan Villar to bounce into a 4-6-3 double play to preserve Clevelands 2-1 lead. McAllister threw four straight balls to Jose Altuve to start the sixth and was immediately lifted by Indians manager Terry Francona, who wasnt going to wait for the situation to worsen and went to his bullpen. Rzepczynski came on and got two outs -- one when catcher Carlos Santana threw out Altuve trying to steal -- before Shaw struck out Chris Carter. With the heavy rain approaching, and the weather forecast looking bleak, the Indians took a 2-1 lead in the fourth thanks to two errors by the Astros on one play. Ryan Raburn hit a one-out single and Asdrubal Cabrera walked. Michael Brantley then hit a grounder to first baseman Carter, who tried to get a forceout at second but threw wildly into left field, allowing Raburn to score. Both runners advanced when a throw to the plate by left fielder Marc Krauss hit a sliding Raburn in the shoulder and the ball skipped to the backstop, a sequence more suited to a Little League field than a major league ballpark. McAllister got two quick outs in the second before Lairds fourth homer gave the Astros a 1-0 lead. NOTES: The Indians are 14 games over .500 for the first time since May 24, 2011. ... Indians RHP Justin Masterson (oblique) threw a 33-pitch bullpen session, and its possible the All-Star could pitch if the Indians make the post-season. Masterson, who has been out since Sept. 2, will be re-evaluated Saturday and could throw a simulated game as soon as Monday. ... The Indians have spread around the walk-off wealth. They have had 10 wins in their final at-bat with nine different players getting the game-winning hit. Jason Kipnis is the only player with two walk-off hits. ... Aviles snapped an 0-for-23 slid with a double in the sixth. Pittsburgh Pirates Store . Minutes before the final whistle of Sporting Kansas Citys 3-0 victory over a shorthanded Montreal Impact squad on Saturday afternoon, Saputo tweeted: "Our fans deserve better. Pirates Jerseys 2020 . The Padres made the moves before Fridays game at Washington. They promoted infielder Jace Peterson from Double-A San Antonio and right-hander Kevin Quackenbush from Triple-A El Paso. https://www.cheappiratesjerseys.us/ .J. - New York Giants cornerback Prince Amukamara left Monday nights game against the Indianapolis Colts with a torn biceps. Pirates Jerseys 2019 .Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seems to be leaning the fiscally responsible way.Let me put it like this: Its going to be a challenge, Jones said of re-signing both of Dallas biggest potential free agents. Pittsburgh Pirates Shirts . -- Syracuse was dangerously close to letting another less talented opponent pull off the upset when C.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, So Shawn Thornton gets a slap on the wrist for the water squirting incident - a childish, unsportsmanlike and potentially dangerous act, but players can get two minutes for spraying the goalie with snow when sometimes inadvertently just trying to stop quickly? In your opinion, should the NHL ever consider taking a more serious look at such actions and add them as an infraction in the rule book? Mike Cimba Mike: The Player Safety Committee should be commended for their swift action to impose the maximum permitted fine under the CBA ($2,820.52) against Shawn Thornton for his childish, television viewer unsightly, unsportsmanlike and potentially dangerous act of water bottle squirting at PK Subban. I am quite sure an incident of this nature will never happen again given the maximum allowable supplementary discipline and public humiliation that has been imposed against Thornton (sic sarcasm intended). Now that this bug on the visor of Subban has been wiped clean and severely dealt with, perhaps the PSC, Hockey Operations and the Officiating Department can focus their attention on more important issues that have been continually exposed to this point in the playoffs? For starters Mike, additional rules dont need to written until the ones that already exist are more consistently enforced; or even just applied. If the referee determined that Subban had been legitimately interfered with by a spray from a water bottle in Thorntons hands (Heaven forbid) the ref could have applied a broad interpretation to rule 56.2: a minor penalty shall be imposed on any identifiable player on the players bench or penalty bench who, by means of his stick or his body, interferes with the movements of the puck or any opponent on the ice during the progress of the play (Thorntons hands are attached to his body). Likewise, the same rule 75 - unsportsmanlike conduct, that is applied (sometimes) against a player deemed guilty of deliberately snow-showering a goalie could also be imposed in the case of a player deliberately squirting water in the face of his opponent. With the multitude of infractions that are being let go throughout extended portions of these games I cant imagine any referee imposing a penalty for this squirt of liquid. With regard to player safety however, it appears to be a serious and unwanted element of the game. So too was diving/embellishment once upon a time. Embellishment was deemed a plague within the game and language was added to rule 64.3 that provided authority for Hockey Operations to review game videos and assess fines to players who dive or embellish a fall or a reaction, or who feign injury regardless if a penalty was called on the ice. The punishment for the first such offence during the season wiill result in a warning letter being sent to the player.dddddddddddd The second such incident will result in a $1,000 fine. For the third such incident in the season, the player shall be suspended for one game, pending a telephone conversation with the Director of Hockey Operations. For subsequent violations in the same season, the players suspension shall double (i.e. first suspension - one game, second suspension - two games, third suspension - four games, etc.) When was the last time you read that a player had been fined for diving/embellishment let alone suspended? I have seen some known offenders embellish as many as three times in one game during these playoffs. Im not suggesting for a second that players should be suspended for the letter of the law that this rule empowers Hockey Operations. What I am suggesting is to focus on the real important issues beyond a squirt from a water bottle. Lets start with an acceptable and expected standard of enforcement from the referees throughout a playoff game that is more consistent with those employed during the regular season. The rulebook has not changed from the regular season but the application and standard of enforcement by most of the referees clearly has. Powerful stick slashes that broke a players stick was almost always called; as the playoffs progress they are seldom called and have even resulted in goals being scored. Obvious infractions have been let go; major infractions have been let go or deemed to be a minor penalty. The latest such example was the major boarding infraction by Brandon Bollig on Keith Ballard that was deemed to be a minor penalty by the referee on the ice. Bollig was subsequently and correctly suspended for two games by the Player Safety Committee for this dangerous hit that injured Ballard. As far as I am concerned they got in wrong by not responding in kind to the chicken-wing elbow delivered by Jared Spurgeon of the Wild to the head of Marcus Kruger. Kruger was pulling his upper body back and up after shooting the puck on goal. Spurgeon was going to miss his intended check and responded by leaving his skates and extending his elbow to initiate contact with the head of Kruger. Kruger staggered of the ice and went directly to be evaluated in the quiet of the Hawks dressing room. Spearing incidents and howdy-dos between the legs have on occasion resulted in the assessment of penalties. Sidney Crosby provided a pretty good howdy to Dominic Moore that went un-penalized and resulted in a scrum at the end of the second period in yesterdays Rangers 3-1 win over the Penguins. In an attempt to keep all things in perspective, it would appear that a squirt off the bench with a water bottle will result in the maximum allowable fine being levied by the Player Safety Committee. Perhaps just a letter to Thornton would have sufficed; all things being equal? ' ' '