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Sabathia leads Indians in series opener against Royals

Sep 14, 2007 - 1:23 PM Kansas City (63-82) at Cleveland (85-61) 7:05 pm EDT

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Cy Young Award candidate C.C. Sabathia look to climb into a tie for the major-league lead in wins when the Cleveland Indians open a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals on Friday.

Sabathia (17-7, 3.15 ERA), who is one win behind Josh Beckett of the Boston Red Sox and Chien-Ming Wang of the New York Yankees, has allowed two or fewer runs in each of his last 10 starts. The 27-year-old lefthander has won his last three outings, surrendering a total of just three runs over that span.

Sabathia pitched his fourth complete game of the season his last time out, holding the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to just one run and five hits while striking out three en route to a 6-1 victory.

Sabathia is 1-2 with a 3.00 ERA in three starts against the Royals this season.

The Indians are 5 1/2 games in front of the Detroit Tigers (80-67) atop the American League Central Division.

Brian Bannister (12-8, 3.46) takes the mound for the Royals. Bannister had a four-game winning streak snapped in his last outing against the New York Yankees. The 26-year-old righthander allowed a season-high seven runs in five innings as the Royals suffered an 11-5 setback on Saturday. The loss was just his second in his last nine decisions.