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Lee, Indians blank Blue Jays

Aug 10, 2008 - 10:14 PM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Even without his best stuff, Cliff Lee continued a dream season.

Lee scattered eight hits in eight innings to record his 16th victory Sunday as the Cleveland Indians blanked the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-0, to complete a sweep of the three-game series.

Lee (16-2) tied Arizona's Brandon Webb for the major league lead in wins while moving one ahead of New York's Mike Mussina for the top victory total in the American League.

"I was throwing strikes, working ahead in the count and trying to avoid, 2-0, 3-1 counts," Lee said. "For the most part, I was able to do that. They put the ball in play and we made some good defensive plays."

The lefthander only struck out one but walked none and did not allow a runner to reach third base. He also relied on his defense, getting nine flyball outs while lowering his ERA to 2.45.

"Cliff did a good job today," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "He had to work at it a little bit. They put some innings together. We did a good job catching the ball defensively."

The Indians staked Lee to a 2-0 lead before he took the mound, reaching rookie Scott Richmond (0-2) for two runs in the top of the first on David Dellucci's run-scoring double and Jhonny Peralta's RBI single.

The early 2-0 lead was enough for Lee, even though there were only two innings in which the Blue Jays did not get at least one runner on base.

"He was in control throughout," Wedge added. "He did a good job moving his fastball around, made some adjustments as the game went on. So, overall another good day for Cliff."

Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston was impressed with the way Lee pitched with runners on base.

"We hit some balls hard," Gaston said. "We had eight hits off him, but give him some credit. When he had to get guys out with guys on base, he got them out. That's why you pitch a shutout and go 16-2."

Making his third major league start, Richmond surrendered three runs and nine hits in five innings.

"I need to do my job and not worry about the offense," Richmond said. "I need to go out and keep my team in the game. Three is low number but I think I can do better."

Cleveland added to its lead on RBI singles by Ryan Garko in the third and Grady Sizemore in the eighth.

Rafael Perez struck out the side in the ninth to put the finishing touches on the Indians' first sweep of the Blue Jays since 2002.