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Sabathia does it all as Brewers edge Reds in ninth

Jul 13, 2008 - 11:27 PM By David Cotey PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers traded for CC Sabathia earlier this month expecting his arm to carry them to the playoffs. They got a little extra Sunday.

Sabathia pitched nine strong innings - his 16th career complete game - and hit his third career home run as the Milwaukee Brewers avoided a three-game sweep with a 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Miller Park on Sunday.

Craig Counsell hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning after Sabathia (2-0) struck out the side in the top of the inning on 11 pitches, sending the Brewers to just their third win in seven games.

"I was just able to come out and do my thing," Sabathia said. "All I can do is go out and try to help the team win and keep us in games. I just knew it would be good to win a game before we got four days off. That's all I was trying to do, help us win and be able to take the break and relax and come back in San Francisco and be strong."

Bill Hall led off the bottom of the ninth with a single to center and advanced to third when reliever David Weathers (2-5) threw wildly to first after Mike Cameron's bunt single. After Jason Kendall was walked intentionally, Counsell hit the first pitch he saw from reliever Francisco Cordero to right field to score Hall.

"I was just trying to be aggressive. More than anything, you want to put it in play, so make sure you're swinging," Counsell said. "I was looking for a strike. He's a strikeout pitcher. It's not where you want to get to two strikes and be battling. (I wanted) something in the zone that I could drive. It was great to get (Sabathia) a win because he did a heck of a job."

Sabathia, who is now 8-8 overall this season, had thrown 111 pitches entering the ninth inning but the Brewers stuck with their newest acquisition despite having closer Salomon Torres available.

"Their health is paramount in my mind more than anything else," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "When a pitcher gets up to 120 pitches, I get nervous. But he's such a big strong guy, and when I talked to him, he said I felt good. He felt strong so we struck with him."

Sabathia, who pitched eight shutout innings against the Reds on June 27 as a member of the Cleveland Indians, hit a solo home run down the right-field line off Reds starter Homer Bailey in the bottom of the third inning to cut the Reds' lead to 2-1.

"It was an 0-2 count and he threw me a slider and I fouled it off," Sabathia said. "I kind of figured he'd try to throw me another one. I tried to stay on it and hit it hard. It's fun. You feel like more of a baseball player when you get to hit and run the bases and do things like that."

Gabe Kapler doubled with two outs in the sixth off reliever Bill Bray to drive in J.J. Hardy and tie the score at 2-2.

Sabathia allowed two runs on eight hits with one walk and nine strikeouts. The Reds touched the 27-year-old lefthander with solo runs on sacrifice flies by David Ross and Adam Dunn in the second and third innings.

"CC seemed to get stronger as the game went on," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "That's why they got him. He's a horse."

Bailey's victory drought continued despite a solid outing during which he allowed two runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings. He left with a runner on base and a 2-1 lead that the Reds' bullpen could not hold.

"No walks, but I still had trouble with my slider," Bailey said. "That's something that can be corrected. And once again, I didn't have much luck, not to mention, the guy on the other team (Sabathia), he's OK."

The 22-year-old, who entered this season rated the second-best prospect in the Reds system behind teammate Jay Bruce by Baseball America, has not won since April 30 when he was with Class AAA Louisville. Bailey's last big league win came September 30, 2007.