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Athletics topple Sabathia, Indians

Apr 12, 2008 - 4:09 AM Todd Krepop By PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- C.C. Sabathia turned out to be no match for the hitting-challenged Oakland Athletics.

Mark Ellis, Mike Sweeney and Donnie Murphy each had two RBI and Bobby Crosby had three hits to lead the A's to a 9-6 romp over the Cleveland Indians on Friday night.

Oakland came into the contest with a team batting average of .239, but jumped all over Sabathia for the second time in less than a week.

"That's not as easy feat against someone as good as (Sabathia)," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "Every hitter in the lineup got a hit and a couple of guys who haven't played much contributed."

Already leading 1-0, Oakland jumped all over the reigning American League Cy Young winner in the second inning.

The A's sent 11 men to the plate en route to scoring five runs. Crosby led off with a single, advanced to second on an error and scored on Jack Cust's RBI double. After a groundout, Chris Denorfia plated a run with an RBI single, and Mark Ellis and Daric Barton followed with consecutive RBI doubles to extend the lead to 5-0.

Sweeney, who had an RBI single in the first, capped the second inning scoring with a sacrifice fly.

"It was tough to come into the dugout after the second," Sabathia said. "The whole team was deflated. I take pride in putting this team in a position to win and I am not doing that."

The A's tacked on another run in the third on Ellis' sacrifice fly and added two more hits in the fourth before chasing Sabathia to the showers.

Murphy singled home two more runs in the fourth to increase the A's lead to 9-1.

Sabathia (0-2) allowed nine runs on 12 hits in 3 1/3 innings and saw his ERA balloon to 11.57. The nine runs allowed equaled a career worst for Sabathia.

"I just (stink) right now," Sabathia said. "I'm not putting guys away with two strikes. There is no excuse for the way I have been pitching.

"It's frustrating. I'm not giving the guys a chance to win."

The A's knocked Sabathia around for four runs in 5 1/3 innings on April 6 in Oakland. In 14 career starts against Oakland, Sabathia is 2-7 with a 6.84 ERA.

"(Sabathia) had a tough night," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "He wasn't able to get it going. He wasn't able to lock it in and get to where he needed to be."

The run support was just enough for A's starter Joe Blanton (1-2). The righthander allowed five runs on eight hits in 7 2/3 innings to pick up his first win of 2008.

"Our offense did a great job getting runs early in the game," Blanton said.

Blanton was in control until Cleveland mounted a comeback in the eighth. scoring six runs to close within 9-7, but closer Houston Street got the final four outs after a 59-minute rain delay to pick up his third save in four opportunities.

Jhonny Peralta had a solo home run and two RBI and Ryan Garko had two RBI as well for the Indians, who dropped to 2-5 in their last seven games.