CLEVELAND (AP) -- All Alex Rodriguez wanted to talk about was new
teammate Travis Hafner.

width=65> height=90 align=right alt="Alex Rodriguez">

Rodriguez had his AL-leading 38th homer, and Hafner nearly hit
for the cycle to lead the Texas Rangers to an 11-5 victory over the
Cleveland Indians on Sunday.

Hafner, who made his major league debut Tuesday after batting
.338 with 19 homers at Triple-A Oklahoma City, went 4-for-5 with
three RBI.

"He reminds me a little of a young Carlos Delgado, but he's
also a very disciplined hitter,'' Rodriguez said. "I like his
patience, I like his approach, and he's got a nice short swing.''

Rodriguez had three hits, Rafael Palmeiro drove in three runs
and Aaron Myette won for the first time since last September for
Texas. Frank Catalanotto singled, doubled, tripled and scored three
runs.

"It's totally awesome up here,'' Hafner said. "It is
everything you dream of, and I am having a blast.''

Hafner singled and scored in the second inning as the Rangers
roughed up Charles Nagy (1-3) for six runs in 1 2/3 innings.

"I was awful,'' Nagy said. "I threw too many pitches right
over the plate to a good hitting team.''

Hafner hit his first career homer, a two-run shot off the
right-field foul pole, for an 8-0 lead in the fourth. He added a
sixth-inning double.

In the seventh, Hafner hit an opposite-field liner off the wall
in left-center to score Herbert Perry from first base for a 10-4
lead. When the ball was bobbled by left fielder Matt Lawton for an
instant, Hafner tried for third, but was thrown out.

Myette (1-4) started in place of Chan Ho Park, who went on the
disabled list Wednesday with a blister on his finger.

The right-hander twice worked out of jams. With the bases loaded
in the third, Myette struck out Ellis Burks and Jim Thome.
Cleveland put the first two runners on in the fourth, but Myette
got a forceout and double-play grounder.

"He didn't cave in,'' Indians manager Joel Skinner said. "When
a guy pitches like he did and wins, you say he was effectively
wild. When he gets hit, you say he was behind in the count a lot.''

Myette allowed two unearned runs, three hits and four walks in
five-plus innings. He hit two batters with pitches and struck out
six.

"Any win feels good,'' Myette said. "It was a big step for me
to trust my stuff, but I was still a little inconsistent.''

Myette lowered his ERA from 11.91 to 9.76 and won for the first
time since last Sept. 28.

Rodriguez lined a first-pitch fastball from reliever Jason
Phillips into the left-field stands for a 9-0 lead in the sixth.

In the bottom half, Cleveland scored on a throwing error by
third baseman Perry and a grounder by Einar Diaz. Omar Vizquel
lined a two-run single off reliever Jay Powell to make it 9-4.

Catalanotto tripled into the right-field corner to open the game
and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Mench. Rodriguez singled and
scored on a double by Palmeiro, and Carl Everett's two-out RBI
single made it 3-0.

Catalanotto had an RBI double and Palmeiro a two-run single in
the second to make it 6-0. Catalanotto singled and scored on a wild
pitch by Jason Beverlin in the eighth to make it 11-4.

Game notes
Myette and Catalanotto were bidding to join Oddibe McDowell
as the only Rangers to hit for the cycle. McDowell did it July 23,
1985, against Cleveland. ... Nagy's ERA went up to 8.86 after his
shortest start since July 1, 2001. ... Vizquel got two hits,
snapping an 0-for-27 slump. ... Texas improved to 7-19 on the road
and 17-25 overall against AL Central teams. ... Hafner became only
the fifth native of North Dakota to homer in a major league game.