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Six-run seventh powers Indians past Blue Jays

May 10, 2008 - 3:45 AM By Todd Krepop PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CLEVELAND (Ticker) - The Cleveland Indians' slumbering offense woke up in time to help make a winner of C.C. Sabathia.

Sabathia pitched seven strong innings and Casey Blake and Ben Francisco each belted two-run doubles to highlight a six-run seventh inning as the Indians rallied to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-1, on Friday night.

The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, Sabathia (2-5) allowed one run and six hits to help the Indians defeat the Blue Jays for the 12th time in their last 13 meetings.

"It was awesome," Sabathia said in regard to the Indians' seventh-inning explosion. "It was a total pick-me-up. It felt good."

The lefthander, who had nine strikeouts, improved to 7-3 in 10 career starts against Toronto.

Roy Halladay (3-5), who kept Cleveland off the scoreboard over the first six innings, ran into trouble in the seventh.

Travis Hafner and Ryan Garko led off the inning with consecutive singles. Asdrubal Cabrera followed with the intent of sacrificing, but Halladay walked the .181 hitter on four pitches.

"The walk killed me," Halladay said. "I got caught up in trying to field the bunt and I never made a quality pitch. It was a dumb mistake. That's what changed the game."

Blake ended Halladay's night with a two-run double off the left-field wall to give the Indians a 2-1 lead.

"(Halladay) left a cutter over the plate," Blake said. "He is as good as there is, but he might have been tiring."

"I left one pitch over the middle of the plate and things got out of hand," Halladay said.

After an intentional walk to Franklin Gutierrez, Francisco doubled off of reliever Jeremy Accardo to extend the Indians lead to 4-1. Cleveland tacked on two more runs on a wild pitch by Accardo and a sacrifice fly by Jhonny Peralta.

"Everybody did a good job that inning," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. "It was nice to see an inning like that against a pitcher like Halladay."

Halladay yielded four runs on six hits and struck out a season-high nine, but dropped his fourth decision in his last five starts.

Prior to the seventh, the two former Cy Young Award winners matched each other pitch-for-pitch - with Marco Scutaro's RBI single in the fifth accounting for the game's only run.

"I felt if I could keep us in the game, we could break out of it," Sabathia said. "And we did."

After a rough start to the season, Sabathia has appeared to turn the corner. In his last four starts, the lefthander has an ERA of 1.98. He had pitched well enough to win his two previous starts, but Cleveland's offense managed only two runs in those games.

"I felt like I was back after the Kansas City game (on April 22)," Sabathia said. "I am able to put my pitches where I want to now."

In addition to the loss, Toronto saw Vernon Wells leave the contest in the sixth inning after making a diving catch, injuring his left wrist in the process.

"I felt a little something as soon as I left my feet," said Wells, who also had tightness in his right hamstring. "I hit the ground pretty hard. I couldn't breathe. From top to bottom, I didn't feel too good."

Wells will undergo an MRI on Saturday and will not be in the Blue Jays' lineup.

"I have never hurt my wrist before," he said. "I don't know what to expect."