CLEVELAND — The Pittsburgh Pirates missed an opportunity to do something they haven’t done in a long time.

Entering Friday’s interleague road game against the Cleveland Indians, the Pirates were looking to move three games over .500 for the first time since beating the Philadelphia Phillies at Three Rivers Stadium on July 1, 1999, to move to 40-37.

The Indians had other ideas.

They scored twice against Pirates starter Kevin Correia (8-6) before a three-run eighth sealed a 5-1 Cleveland win.

Correia came in with a 7-1 record on the road, best in the majors, but the Indians scored an unearned run in the third inning when he balked a runner home from third. Indians catcher Carlos Santana hit his eighth home run of the season in the fourth to make it 2-0.

Indians starter Josh Tomlin (8-4) allowed just one run over 6 2-3 innings as Cleveland moved one percentage point ahead of Detroit for first place in the AL Central.

Correia’s balk enabled Orlando Cabrera to trot home with the first run of the game. With the bases loaded, the right-hander was pitching out of the windup, something he normally does not do. With a catcher, Michael McKenry, who had just joined the Pirates on Sunday after being acquired from the Red Sox, Correia was unsure of the sign. When he motioned for McKenry to go through them again, his foot was on the rubber.

“Obviously it’s a dumb thing to do,” Correia said. “A few things came together right at that point for that to happen. It’s not something that’s going to happen very often, but we just happened to be changing signs and me going from the wind-up, which I never do with someone at second, just combined into an odd play that got a run in.”

Despite the balk and having a four-game winning streak snapped, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle liked what he saw from Correia.

“He did pitch well,” Hurdle said. “He continues to battle and he’s been a pro out there for us. He threw a few more pitches than he would have liked.”