C.C. gets some help: Six-run seventh more than enough for Sabathia as Indians down Blue Jays
NorthCoastNOW
CLEVELAND — The Indians’ offense didn’t hit on all cylinders Friday night at Progressive Field. But it did hit, and that’s saying something these days.
Cleveland’s sagging offense produced one big inning, and with a sparkling effort from C.C. Sabathia, that was enough to get past the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-1, in front of 26,472 chilly fans on the lakefront.
The Indians trailed 1-0 through six innings and were en route to being shut down by Jays ace Roy Halladay before scoring all of their runs in the seventh to pave the way for their third victory in four games.
“It was nice to see us put together a big inning like that against a tough pitcher like (Roy) Halladay,” said Cleveland manager Eric Wedge. “It was a very good inning for us.”
With a pair of former American League Cy Young Award winners on the mound in Halladay and Sabathia, runs were at a minimum for much of the game.
Sabathia didn’t allow a hit through three innings, while Halladay did the same, shutting the Indians out on three hits over six innings.
Sabathia bent first, surrendering a one-out RBI single to Marco Scutaro in the fifth, but it was Halladay who broke, with the Indians putting the first four batters aboard in the seventh before taking control.
“I just felt like if I could keep it close, we would break out of it, and we did,” said Sabathia, who allowed just a run on six hits, while striking out nine through seven innings.
The first four Indians’ runs in the decisive seventh came on two-run doubles from Casey Blake and Ben Francisco. Blake’s double off the wall in left-center scored Cleveland’s first two runs, while Francisco’s pinch hit put Cleveland in front 4-1, closing the book on Halladay, who allowed four runs on six hits through six innings.
Blake, who along with Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner had multiple hits, has had a penchant for coming through in the clutch. Though he is hitting just .221, he is batting .429 (15-for-35) with runners in scoring position, a situation he struggled with last year.
“It seems like that’s where my hits are coming,” Blake said. “I’m not complaining.”
“He’s had a lot of big hits for us,” Wedge said. “He’s done a good job in RBI situations for us.”
With Halladay in control early, it appeared another Indians pitcher was in for a hard-luck defeat.
“It’s kind of been the story of our season,” Blake said. “The starting pitcher throws well, and we’ve struggled to pick him up. Just to give him support like that was big.”
“Obviously it was C.C. that put us in that situation to be able to have that big inning,” Wedge said. “He was very good tonight. He was in control throughout.”
Sabathia (2-5, 6.55) appears to have shaken his early season slump. Cleveland’s ace allowed 27 runs over his first four starts, but has given up just six in his last four outings. His win moved him into 10th place for the most wins by a big league pitcher since 2001 with 102.
“I thought I was back after the Kansas City start,” Sabathia said of his outing April 22 in Kansas City, when he shut out the Royals on four hits, striking out 11 in six innings. “I think everybody’s getting back to knowing how we need to play. We just have to get back to playing our style of baseball and we should be all right.”
“C.C.’s been throwing the ball well for three or four starts,” Wedge said. “He’s pitching with confidence.”
The Indians extended Toronto’s misery in Cleveland, where the Jays have won just once in 13 games dating back to the 2004 season. They have been swept in three of their last four series in Cleveland and have not taken an overall series from the Indians since 2003.
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.
TONIGHT
WHO: Toronto at Cleveland
TIME: 7:05
WHERE: Progressive Field
PITCHERS: Laffey (0-2, 2.84 ERA) vs. McGowan (2-2, 2.95)
TV/RADIO: SportsTime Ohio; WMMS 100.7-FM
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Filed by NorthCoastNOW May 10th, 2008 in Sports.
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