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Pitching-rich series pits Gabbard against Lee in finale

Jul 26, 2007 - 2:01 PM Boston (61-40) at Cleveland (59-42) 7:05 pm EDT

CLEVELAND (Ticker) - The Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians have traded 1-0 wins the past two nights. Kason Gabbard and Cliff Lee will try to keep the bats down again when the Red Sox visit the Indians for the finale of a four-game set on Thursday.

Cleveland snapped Boston's five-game winning streak on Wednesday when Fausto Carmona outdueled Josh Beckett, with each starter yielding four hits in eight innings. One of the Indians' hits, however, was a solo homer by Franklin Guetierrez in the third inning that proved to be the deciding blow.

The Red Sox will hand the ball to rookie sensation Kason Gabbard (4-0, 2.97 ERA) on Thursday. The 25-year-old lefthander has surrendered just one run over his last two starts and is undefeated in six outings this season with a pair of no decisions.

On July 16, Gabbard became the first Boston rookie since Roger Clemens in 1984 to throw a nine-inning shutout at Fenway Park when he held the Kansas City Royals to just three hits. He followed that up with seven innings of three-hit ball last Saturday against the White Sox.

The Indians will put their faith in (5-7, 5.95). The veteran lefthander has been getting hammered recently, yielding 20 runs over his last three starts, all losses.

Lee began the season on the disabled list with a strained abdominal muscle on his right side and did not make his first start until May 3. Since returning to the rotation he has struggled to find any sort of consistency, reeling off two straight wins, followed by a four-start losing streak, followed by three wins, and then the current slide.

The Red Sox saw their lead in the American League East trimmed to 6 1/2 games when the New York Yankees won their sixth straight game Wednesday. It is the closest the Yankees have been to Boston since they were within six games on May 9.