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Lee's complete game carries Indians past Angels

May 9, 2007 - 6:51 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- After a recent return from injury, Cliff Lee had the kind of performance the Cleveland Indians have come to expect.

Lee pitched his third career complete game, allowing no hits through 5 1/3 innings, as the Indians posted a 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Victor Martinez homered and drove in two runs and Casey Blake had two hits and also drove in two for Cleveland, which has won three straight and 13 of its last 16.

"We know that this is a long season of ups and downs and right now we just have to keep riding this streak and keep playing good baseball," Indians manager Eric Wedge said.

Lee (1-0) yielded just a run, three hits and a walk while striking out two.

"I just kept trying to locate my pitches the whole game and put up zeros on the scoreboard," Lee said. "I only used my fastball and changeup tonight and threw a couple of other pitches once or twice."

He also earned his 50th career victory and posted his first complete game since his last start of the 2006 season, a 6-3 win over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on October 1.

The lefthander, who has won at least 14 games for Cleveland in each of the past three seasons, suffered an abdominal strain in spring training and was making just his second start in 2007. In his season debut last Thursday, Lee did not get a decision in a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

"I definitely felt stronger this time out, but my first start was different because I was trying to be too fine and today I just went out and threw strikes," Lee said.

With the Indians leading, 3-0, Lee ran into minor trouble in the sixth after retiring the first 16 batters he faced. Mike Napoli lined a one-out double to the right-center field to break up the no-hitter and scored on a single to left field by Reggie Willits.

"I'm not going to lie, I knew I had a no-hitter going but to think that I was going to keep that going was just freakish to me," Lee said. "I threw some big pitches when I had to and I escaped out of some trouble."

Cleveland scored first when Casey Blake drew a one-out walk in the first inning and moved to second base on a wild pitch by Angels starter Ervin Santana. A single to center field by Martinez plated Blake to give the Indians a 1-0 lead.

"Victor has been hitting the ball really good lately and tonight he got us on the board early," Indians manager Eric Wedge said.

In the top of the fourth, Martinez led off the frame with his fourth homer of the season over the left field wall to increase Cleveland's lead to 2-0.

"I just feel really confident right now at the plate, and I just want to keep that going," Martinez said. "I got a pitch up in zone and just wanted to find a gap with it."

In the fifth, Josh Barfield led off with a double and later scored on a single to left field by Blake to make it 3-0.

In the ninth inning, Blake hammered a single to left field to again plate Barfield, and Grady Sizemore later scored on an RBI groundout by Travis Hafner to give the Indians their final runs.

Santana (2-5) allowed three runs, seven hits and three walks in seven innings. The 24-year-old righthander struck out six but has lost a season-high three straight games.

"I felt like I pitched a good game, but I made a couple mistakes to Martinez and he made me pay for them," Santana said. "I feel like I'm pitching a lot better but I just have to minimize my mistakes."

Orlando Cabrera had the only other hit - a single in the ninth - for the Angels, who have lost three of four vs. the Indians this season.

"We have been getting good pitching but just haven't been getting that timely hit when we need it," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.