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Sizemore, Sabathia lift Indians past Rangers

Jul 20, 2007 - 5:12 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- Grady Sizemore helped C.C. Sabathia get back on track.

Sizemore belted a go-ahead home run in the fifth inning to propel the Cleveland Indians to a 7-5 victory over the Texas Rangers on Thursday night.

Sabathia (13-4) snapped a personal two-game losing streak to become the major leagues' first 13-game winner this season. Cleveland's ace lefthander allowed four runs - three earned - on nine hits in six innings.

"I thought it was positive, it was definitely an improvement," Sabathia said of his outing. "I feel good, I'm just trying to go out and make sure I throw all my pitches for strikes, finish off everything. My changeup had been up a little bit, I just wanted to make sure I finished it off. I got some good ones in there. I definitely feel good about the way I pitched today."

The Indians jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning, then watched Texas climb back into the game and tie it in the bottom of the fourth.

Then Sizemore led off the fifth with a solo home run that restored Cleveland to a lead it would not relinquish.

"I believe it was a sinker, fastball," Sizemore said. "Obviously, they had a big inning and you want to come back and get on top of them. I wasn't trying to hit a homer or anything. I got behind in the count and I was trying to get a good swing on the ball."

Sizemore also added an RBI single and made an outstanding catch in center field.

"I'll tell you one thing that was big, was Grady Sizemore coming back up there after they scored another run to tie the game, the leadoff hitter getting a home run," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. "It brought the momentum right back to our side. That was huge."

Trot Nixon and Ben Francisco each also had two RBI for the Indians.

After Sizemore's home run in the fifth, Cleveland added another run against Texas starter Kameron Loe (5-8) to go up 6-4.

Sizemore's mammoth blast, his 16th home run of the season, landed beyond the Rangers' bullpen in right center field. Casey Blake followed with a triple into left, and two walks later - one intentional to Travis Hafner - Loe had loaded the bases with one out.

Blake scored on Ryan Garko's groundout that would have been an inning-ending double play, but Texas shortstop Ramon Vazquez - subbing for All-Star Michael Young, who missed the game to attend to his wife's grandmother's funeral - stepped off second base on the exchange.

"We didn't get any breaks," Texas catcher Gerald Laird said. "Kam kept us in it. We just couldn't put up those extra runs. Sometimes the breaks don't go your way. It's tough to swallow but we played a good game."

Francisco's RBI single in the eighth scored Garko, who extended his career-high hitting streak to 13 with a double to account for Cleveland's final run.

"I don't even care about hitting streaks, I think they're the most overrated thing in baseball," Garko said. "I'm just glad I drove in a run and scored a couple of runs, that's more important to me."

"I know that he's swinging the bat well," Wedge said of Garko. "He's a young man that loves being up there in RBI situations. He plays the game with no fear and a tremendous amount of confidence. I've seen a lot of toughness this year that I like to see."

Trailing, 4-3, in the bottom of the fourth, the Rangers tied the score but squandered a golden opportunity to take the lead.

Brad Wilkerson walked and Gerald Laird and Vazquez each laid down bunt singles to load the bases with none out. Rookie Travis Metcalf then launched a shot to dead center field that initially looked like it might go for a grand slam, but Sizemore made an impressive running catch on the warning track. Wilkerson tagged up for the tying run before Kenny Lofton grounded into a double play to end the inning.

"That was big, too," Wedge said of Sizemore's catch. "Grady, he's a special player. He defines getting after it. When you get after it and you do that in this game at this level, that tells you everything you need to know and that's one of the many reasons he's special."

Loe got into trouble quickly in the second, loading the bases with none out to set the stage for Nixon's double into the right field corner that scored Hafner and Jhonny Peralta.

Francisco followed with a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Garko, and Nixon later scored from third on Sizemore's single up the middle to give Cleveland a four-run lead.

"It's hard to recover from a four-run inning," Loe said. "I got in a jam and hurt myself by walking a guy and hitting a guy. A lot of my losses have been because of one bad inning. I've got to turn things around. It's definitely frustrating."

The Rangers struck back in the bottom of the inning, rallying for three runs - all with two outs. After Wilkerson doubled, Laird halved the lead with a two-run home run, the fifth Sabathia has surrendered in his last three starts after having allowed just one in the previous six.

"I just told myself to keep making pitches," Sabathia said of working out of trouble in the fourth. "The previous two starts I had, the one right before the break and the one right after, that inning would have blew up on me, so I felt good about getting out of there with one run and able to make some pitches to get out of that inning."

Vazquez followed with a double that one-hopped the wall in right-center and he subsequently scored when Sabathia's throw on Metcalf's short squibbler sailed past first base and out of play.

"We put (the ball) in play, attacked Sabathia pretty well," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "We had some opportunities, but that's what good pitchers do. He responded to put up some zeros. But we made him work. He isn't 13-4 on a fluke."

The Rangers pulled within two in the bottom of the ninth on Mark Teixeira's two-out RBI single, but Frank Francisco struck out Sammy Sosa to end the game.