CLEVELAND: Four runs in the same game? The siege must be over for the Indians' beleaguered batsmen.

Then again, maybe not.

Yes, the Tribe did beat the Oakland Athletics 4-0 at Progressive Field on Tuesday night, but there never was any danger that the covers would come loose from the baseballs.

Ryan Garko produced the most dramatic hit of the evening, a three-run homer in the eighth to make a close game appear as a routine win. Moreover, Travis Hafner, who has been in the tank far longer than his lodge brothers, had two hits, both struck with authority.

Asked if it was important to make hard contact, Hafner said: ''Absolutely. My goal is to hit the ball hard. The more times I do that, the more confidence I get.''

Again, the story of the win was pitching and defense.

Paul Byrd is the last pitcher who failed to follow what is becoming the operative credo for Tribe starting pitchers: Give up one run if you must, but to stay in the club, it's wise not to let the opposing team score at all.

That seems like an impossible standard to maintain, but in the past five games, the Indians' rotation has given up one run in 391/3 innings, and that includes zero by Byrd, who pitched 71/3 innings Tuesday night.

But it also was Byrd who gave up five runs (three homers) in 61/3 innings in a loss to the New York Yankees six games ago in New York.

So it's obvious he owed his fellow starters big time.

''Everybody is in a groove right now,'' Byrd said. ''I definitely had a little pressure on me out there tonight. Like I would be a loser if I gave up a run.''

It doesn't hurt the starters to battle each other.

''Having friendly competition and keeping it moving down the line, one-upping each other is a good thing,'' Indians manager Eric Wedge said. ''They've been feeding off each other.''

Byrd kept the A's off the scoreboard, with help from Tribe defenders, whose acrobatic catches are beginning to look like something out of a Cirque du Soleil production.

In the second inning, Byrd gave up singles to Frank Thomas and Jack Hannahan, putting runners on first and second with two outs. Ryan Sweeney followed with a bloop single to center, but Grady Sizemore threw out Thomas at the plate. David Dellucci made a leaping catch at the fence to save a leadoff double by Donnie Murphy in the third.

Victor Martinez threw out Bobby Crosby trying to steal third in the fifth, and Sizemore and second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera both made diving, sprawling catches of fly balls.

Cabrera's was especially crowd pleasing and difficult. He chased Crosby's looping fly back toward short center field, timing his horizontal leap perfectly.

''I didn't think there was any

way in hell he would get to that ball,'' Wedge said. ''Our defense has been outstanding for a while now. Not just in key situations but consistently.

''When you get the kind of pitching we've had and you have tight games, the defense really comes into play.'''

Byrd (2-3, 3.61 ERA) also praised the defense, saying: ''If they don't make those plays, who knows what the score would have been. It would have been a totally different game.''

That is not to say Byrd pitched poorly. He yielded five hits, issued no walks and struck out seven.

Justin Duchscherer drew the winning straw for the right to face the Tribe lineup, and he did not betray the faith bestowed upon him, giving up one measly run, four hits and two walks in 62/3 innings.

Duchscherer (3-2, 2.20 ERA) is no slouch, but it hasn't hurt his ERA to have faced the Tribe twice, the first time on April 4, when he gave up one run and four hits in five innings.

Tuesday night, the Indians took advantage of a little-known section of the Basic Agreement allowing the home team to score in the first inning.

Dellucci began the brief rally by drawing a two-out walk, and Martinez singled to put runners on first and second.

That brought up Hafner, who had not driven in a run since May 1. But Hafner slapped a low liner over second base for a single to score Dellucci.

''I'm glad Travis and I were able to get some hits,'' Garko said. ''We need both of us to produce.''

After Hafner's single, Duchscherer retired 13 batters in a row before giving up a harmless single to Sizemore to begin the sixth. Needless to say, the threat to Duchscherer's well-being went nowhere.

Masa Kobayashi earned his first major-league save, entering the game with two outs in the eighth with a 1-0 lead and finishing the ninth.

Will his save be big news in his native Japan?

''I think so, but he doesn't,'' said Kobayashi's translator and trainer, Toshi Nagahara. ''At least, my parents will go crazy.''