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Lee wins 14th as Indians top Twins

Jul 26, 2008 - 3:35 AM By Todd Krepop PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Cliff Lee is proving that his first half was not a fluke.

Lee pitched eight strong innings to become the major league's first 14-game winner and the Cleveland Indians held on to defeat the Minnesota Twins, 5-4, on Friday.

Lee (14-2) yielded two runs on five hits while sending the reeling Twins to their fifth consecutive loss. The lefthander didn't allow a walk and struck out 10, throwing 80 of his 108 pitches were strikes.

"I was pretty efficient throwing strikes," Lee said. "I was working ahead in the count and when you do that, they got to swing the bat. I was trying to throw strikes. I was locating the way I expect to locate."

After a superb first half, Lee has started the second half just as strong. He entered the season 32-16 with a 4.29 before the All-Star break in his career, but has struggled after the Midsummer Classic 22-20 with a 5.06 ERA.

However, the lefthander has won both of his starts since the All-Star break, allowing only four runs in 17 innings.

"(Lee) has been very consistent all year," Indians' manager Eric Wedge said. "He is going out there with a great deal of confidence and using it to his advantage."

Minnesota sent Lee to his second defeat earlier in July, but couldn't produce the same result this time. The Twins scored solo runs in the third and fifth but couldn't put together a big inning against Lee, who is bidding to become the Indians' first 20-game winner since Gaylord Perry in 1974.

"The wins and losses, that's going to happen," Lee said. "I am just trying to get deep into the game as I can and put up as many zeroes as I can. I feel if I can do that effectively the wins are going to come."

But Lee had to sweat it out as Justin Morneau blasted a two-run homer in the ninth off Masa Kobayashi to cut the Indians' lead to 5-4. Delmon Young followed with a double, but Rafael Perez retired the next three batters for his second career save.

"I was happy because Lee deserved to win with the way he pitched," said Perez through an interpreter.

Cleveland gave Lee all the support he would need with a four-run first. Grady Sizemore and Jamey Carroll led off the inning with consecutive singles off Livan Hernandez. Ben Francisco followed with a deep fly to left-center, but was robbed of extra bases on a spectacular catch by Carlos Gomez.

Sizemore tagged and scored all the way from second as Gomez writhed in pain on the ground. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire ran out onto the field along with the Twins' training staff. After five minutes, Gomez was immobilized and carted off the field and taken to a local hospital with a lower-back injury.

"I was scared," said Gomez, who was in the clubhouse after the game. "I didn't know if I had broken my back or what. I never felt pain like that before."

"The scans came back," Gardenhire said. "(Gomez) is OK. They checked him out pretty thoroughly. He cracked the wall. He made as good a catch as you will see."

Cleveland tacked on another run in the first on Shin-Soo Choo's sacrifice fly, and Kelly Shoppach brought two more home with a two-run double to give the Indians a 4-0 advantage.

Franklin Gutierrez led off the second with a solo home run off Hernandez to extend the lead to 5-0. Gutierrez blasted Hernandez's 2-2 offering for his first home run since May 27 against the Chicago White Sox.

Hernandez (10-7) settled down after the second inning and pitched his second complete game of the season. The veteran righthander allowed five runs on 11 hits while striking out a season-high six batters.

"He had to battle early," said Gardenhire of Hernandez. "It seems like the bases were loaded the first four innings. He got through it and got us deep into the game."