Cleveland trades Garko to Giants

The San Francisco Giants have acquired first baseman Ryan Garko from the Cleveland Indians, filling a big need in the infield and adding a key right-handed bat.

Garko was a late lineup scratch for the Indians on Monday before they opened a road series against the Los Angeles Angels. He was batting .285 with 11 home runs and 39 RBIs in 78 games for Cleveland, including .343 this month.

The Giants, who fell out of the wild-card lead with a 3-7 road trip, gave up Class-A left-hander Scott Barnes in the deal. Barnes was 12-3 with a 2.85 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 18 starts and 98.0 innings.

METS EXECUTIVE FIRED: Mets general manager Omar Minaya fired a team executive Monday for a series of blowups, then openly questioned the motives of a local beat writer who reported the turmoil after asking about getting a job in baseball. Vice president of player personnel Tony Bernazard was dismissed after getting into a heated argument with All-Star closer Francisco Rodriguez, challenging Double-A players to a fight and berating a team employee over a seating mix-up.

SLOWEY OUT: The Minnesota Twins, locked in a tight division race, will be without Kevin Slowey the rest of the season. Slowey (10-3) will have season-ending surgery to fix a bone chip in his right wrist. The operation requires two to four months of rehab and recovery, Slowey said before Monday's game against the Chicago White Sox.

INDIANS PITCHER SUSPENDED: Cleveland pitcher Winston Abreu has been suspended for three games for plunking a Seattle hitter over the weekend. Indians manager Eric Wedge was penalized one game. Wedge was to sit out Monday night when Cleveland played at the Los Angeles Angels. Bench coach Jeff Datz was set to manage the team in Wedge's place.

Abreu will not appeal and began serving his suspension Monday night. He was also fined an undisclosed amount.

Abreu was penalized for hitting Jack Hannahan in the shoulder during the ninth inning of the Indians' 10-3 win at Seattle on Saturday night. Umpires had warned the teams about hitting opposing batters.

Major League Baseball also fined Seattle pitcher Chris Jakubauskas for throwing at Cleveland's Ben Francisco earlier in the game.