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Indians ace Sabathia seeks fourth win

Apr 25, 2007 - 2:35 PM Texas (8-11) at Cleveland (9-7) 7:05 pm EDT

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- C.C. Sabathia looks to remain unbeaten when he takes the mound for the Cleveland Indians against the Texas Rangers in the opener of a two-game series on Wednesday.

A burly workhorse, Sabathia (3-0, 2.25 ERA) pitched six complete games last season, posting a 3.22 ERA in 28 starts. However, the lefthander was just 12-11.

But this season, the 26-year-old Sabathia has reeled off three impressive wins in his first four starts, yielding 10 runs - seven earned - in 28 innings.

However, in his last outing, Sabathia did not figure in the decision - allowing three runs - two earned - and seven hits in seven innings in a 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays last Friday.

Sabathia aims to continue the success for the Indians, who have won three of their last four games, including a 5-3 victory over Minnesota last Tuesday. Fausto Carmona, who allowed two runs and six hits in 7 2/3 innings, outdueled Twins star Johan Santana.

The Rangers will start Vicente Padilla (0-3, 6.00), who is 2-2 with a 7.54 ERA in four starts against Cleveland in his career. In his last start, Padilla yielded three runs and four hits in 6 1/3 innings but did not figure in the decision in a 6-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Thursday.

Texas, which has lost four of its last six games, had its game vs. the Seattle Mariners postponed due to a tornado watch coupled with a forecast of increasingly deteriorating weather conditions on Tuesday.