• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Sizemore helps Sabathia to league-leading 12th win

Jul 1, 2007 - 4:04 AM CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- The wins keep on coming for C.C. Sabathia. And the starting nod for the American League in the upcoming All-Star Game may be on its way.

Sabathia tossed seven solid innings en route to his league-leading 12th victory as the Cleveland Indians survived a late scare and posted an 8-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Saturday.

Sabathia (12-2) allowed three runs - two earned - and six hits, striking out eight without a walk. The lefthander, who improved to 7-1 with a 2.62 ERA in his last 10 starts, became the first Indian since Gaylord Perry in 1974 to record 12 victories before the All-Star break.

"It feels good to have 12 wins, but it feels better to be in first place right now," said Sabathia, whose team has a 1 1/2-game lead over Detroit in the AL Central Division.

The portly Sabathia finished the month of June at 4-1 with 41 strikeouts and just three walks. He will make one more start before the Midseason Classic, facing the Tigers on Thursday.

"You'd have to be crazy to say he doesn't deserve to start the (All-Star) Game," Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore said. "He not only stops people, he dominates them."

"He's been a No. 1 (starter) for a while now," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "There's an entirely different air in the ballpark when C.C. is pitching."

Sabathia also impressed Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon.

"The one difference in him I see is, he's throwing his slider and changeup more, and he's controlling them," Maddon said. "He still throws hard, but he's not walking anybody."

Sizemore was the offensive star for Cleveland, going 3-for-4 with a walk and three RBI. He gave the Indians the lead with a two-run single in the second inning and plated another run with a base hit in the fourth to make it 4-0.

Travis Hafner added a solo homer in the fifth before Cleveland stretched its advantage to 8-3 with a three-run sixth, which was highlighted by Casey Blake's two-run single.

Devil Rays starter J.P. Howell (1-2) lasted just 4 1/3 innings, allowing five runs and eight hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

"They did a good job," Howell said. "I got behind in the count too much, and when I did get ahead, I couldn't finish them off. That's what good-hitting teams do."

Tampa Bay, which has lost six in a row and 13 of 17, made things interesting in the ninth against lefthander Rafael Perez. With one on and one out, Raul Casanova belted his third homer of the season, and Dustan Mohr followed with his first to pull the Devil Rays within 8-6.

But closer Joe Borowski came on to get the final two outs and record his 23rd save in 25 opportunities.

The Devil Rays halved their deficit to 4-2 in the fifth on Casanova's sacrifice fly and Mohr's single. Ty Wigginton added an RBI single in the sixth.

Jason Michaels was the only player without a hit for Cleveland, which pounded out 15 en route to its fifth win in six games.

The Devil Rays totaled just 10 runs in the first five games of their losing streak. On a night in which the offense scored six runs, the pitching staff allowed 15 hits, leaving Maddon with a culinary analogy for his team's troubles.

"I guess our biscuits and our gravy are a little convoluted at this point," he said. "We have to work at getting the proper recipe."