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Sabathia goes the distance as Indians top Angels

Sep 9, 2007 - 5:28 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- C.C. Sabathia is certainly making a good case for the American League Cy Young.

Sabathia carried a shutout into the eighth inning before settling for his fourth complete game as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Los Angeles Angels, 6-1, in the third-game of a four-game series between the division leaders on Saturday.

The win allowed Cleveland (82-60) to remain five games ahead of Detroit (77-65) in the AL Central.

"We just have to keep winning games," Indians manager Eric Wedge said.

Sabathia (17-7) entered having allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of his last nine starts, including back-to-back wins against Johan Santana and the Minnesota Twins.

"I'm just in a good groove right now," Sabathia said. "I just feel strong and hope to keep it going for the rest of the year."

Sabathia worked eight scoreless innings on Monday and nearly matched that effort in this one. The lefthander yielded just two singles through his first seven innings before the Angels broke up his shutout bid.

"He's one of the league's best pitchers," Angels Robb Quinlan said. "Just got ahead of us early and made his pitches."

Howie Kendrick reached on an infield single that struck Sabathia on the left arm and Maicer Izturis walked. After Kendrick advanced to third after the Indians turned their fourth double play of the night, Juan Rivera singled up the middle to spoil Sabathia's attempt for his second shutout of the season and sixth career.

"We just couldn't put together good at-bats against him (Sabathia) tonight," Kendrick said.

Sabathia allowed five hits and a walk while striking out three to tie his career high in wins set in 2001. He also tied Josh Beckett of the Boston Red Sox and Chien-Ming Wang for the league lead in wins.

"Means a lot to me to help the team win games," Sabathia said. "It would be good to get to 20 wins this season."

Angels starter Ervin Santana matched zeros with Sabathia until the fifth.

"He matched a very good pitcher for a big part of the game, and he looked stong," Scioscia said of Santana.

Indians Jhonny Peralta tried to steal third base on a Casey Blake strikeout with one out, but Angels catcher Jeff Mathis threw the ball into left field, allowing Peralta to come around to score. A good throw easily would have gotten Peralta and ended the inning.

"It was a good decision for him (Mathis) but the ball just got away from him," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

Cleveland scored two more in the sixth on RBI singles by Peralta and Lofton that ended the night for Santana (6-13).

Santana, who entered 0-4 with a 9.19 ERA in four starts lifetime against Cleveland, pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits.

"I've been feeling better lately with my mechanics," Santana said. "I felt good out there again tonight and hope to keep getting better each start."

Travis Hafner delivered a two-run double in the seventh and Grady Sizemore made it 6-0 with an RBI triple in the eighth.

Santana, entered 0-4 with a 9.19 ERA in four starts lifetime against Cleveland, but was coming off his first win since June, when he beat Oakland after tossing 6 1/3 scoreless innings.