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Sabathia gets rare win over Athletics

Jun 26, 2007 - 3:49 AM CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- C.C. Sabathia picked up a win against his nemesis in style. Sabathia pitched his second complete game of the season to lead the Cleveland Indians to a 5-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Monday.

Sabathia (11-2), who improved to 8-1 at home, became the second 11-game winner in the majors, joining Boston 's Josh Beckett. Sabathia retired 20 of the last 24 batters he faced and gave up two runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts.

"It's too early to talk about my record right now," Sabathia said. "Maybe in October or November we can talk about what a great year I had."

It was the first win for Sabathia, who grew up just outside of the Bay area, against the A's since July 30, 2003 as the burly lefthander has struggled in his career against Oakland.

Even with Monday's win, Sabathia is only 2-6 in 12 career starts against the A's, his worst record against any American League opponent.

"They're a team that gives me trouble," Sabathia said. "It feels great to get a win against them."

Sabathia also enjoyed the fact that he quieted his friends back home

"I got so many text messages from my friends, and they're all A's fans, and that's what stinks, because they talk so much trash," he said. "They're like, 'you're a good pitcher but the A's are going to beat you tonight. That's the type of texts I get from my friends. They'll be getting some texts tonight."

The A's looked like they would have their way against Sabathia early as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning. But Sabathia would settle down as he retired the next 13 batters in a row before allowing a Dan Johnson single in the seventh.

"Sabathia did a good job of gathering himself and got back on track," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "He really took control of the game from there."

"He's throwing his breaking stuff more often, but as a hitter you still have to be ready because he throws 95," A's catcher Jason Kendall said. "When a guy throws that hard, you have to look for his fastball."

Sabathia induced Mark Kotsay into a double-play grounder to end the seventh and the Cleveland offense gave its ace some breathing room with a two-run eighth to break open a close game.

Leading 3-2, Jhonny Peralta had an RBI single scoring Victor Martinez , who led off the inning with a double down the right-field line. Jason Michaels followed an intentional walk to Ryan Garko with an RBI double to right-center.

Garko, who is batting .174 in the month of June, gave the Indians a 3-2 lead in the fourth with a two-out, two-run double. With two outs, Hafner started the Indians rally with a single. Oakland starter Chad Gaudin walked Peralta setting up Garko's double to center.

"Garko got the big hit for us," Wedge said. "It was big for us to take the lead, especially with C.C. on the mound. It let (Sabathia) take it from there." Travis Hafner brought the Indians within 2-1 in the fourth with a solo shot to right field off of Gaudin.

"Pronk hitting a home run got us excited," Sabathia said. "If he gets rolling it will be tough to beat us."

It was the first home run for Hafner since May 31 against Detroit , a span of 68 at-bats. The Indians designated hitter entered Monday's game with only two extra-base hits in the month of June and had two hits in his last 20 at-bats.

"It felt pretty good to get the team on the board," Hafner said. "I've been working really hard. I feel the last week or so my swing has been getting better. Sooner or later the hard work will pay off. Hopefully I can string some consistency together."

Gaudin (6-3) picked up his second loss in a row after allowing three runs and six hits in six innings while striking out four.

"I made a couple of bad pitches and they took advantage of them," Gaudin said. Rich Harden relieved Gaudin as he continues to try and build up arm strength after missing nearly two months with a strained right shoulder. Harden struck out two in the seventh.

However after the inning, Harden reported soreness in shoulder.

"He was a little achy after the first so we felt one inning was enough," A's manager Bob Geren said. "Hopefully, it's nothing major. Obviously we'll know more tomorrow. I was liking what I saw. He was throwing 95. He looked like the guy we saw earlier in the season. I saw nothing at all to indicate (there's something major wrong)."

Johnson and Kotsay each had an RBI for the A's, who have dropped four straight.