• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Lee wins 22nd as Indians overwhelm Royals

Sep 13, 2008 - 3:51 AM By Todd Krepop PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Cliff Lee isn't ready to look back at his historic season yet.

Cliff Lee recorded his major league-leading 22nd victory as the Cleveland Indians toppled the Kansas City Royals, 12-5, on Friday night.

Shin-Soo Choo and Kelly Shoppach homered and drove in three runs apiece while Grady Sizemore added three hits and two RBI for Cleveland, which pounded out 15 hits - including eight for extra bases.

With his 11th win in a row, Lee (22-2) became the first pitcher to go 20 games over .500 since Bob Welch in 1990. He also joins Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees in 1978 and Lefty Grove of the Philadelphia A's in 1931 as the only pitchers since 1900 to win 22 of their first 24 decisions.

"It's not over yet," Lee said. "So far it has gone pretty good, but I am not going to start patting myself on the back. I am going to move forward and keep doing what I have done, and that is to focus on my next start and give the team a chance to win."

The leading Cy Young Award candidate in the American League, Lee did not have his best outing but was just good enough.

He allowed five runs and 11 hits in 8 1/3 innings, striking out three without a walk. Lee had given up two runs or less in seven consecutive starts entering the contest.

Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said Lee's 2008 performance is the best he has ever seen.

"It is," Wedge said. "I know there have been some tremendous seasons by starting pitchers and by different individuals over the years, but without a doubt this is the best I have ever seen."

The lefthander has been at his best against one of the major leagues' worst teams this season. Lee is 5-0 in five starts against the Royals in 2008 with a 2.62 ERA, but he had to work out of some early trouble in this one.

Trailing, 1-0, Kansas City had a chance to get to Lee in the second, when they banged out three hits. But the Royals only were able to score one unearned run as two runners were thrown out at home.

"Any time there is a play at the plate, it's huge, especially when the runners are out," Lee said.

Lee cruised from there, retiring 15 of the next 16 batters before tiring in the ninth and giving up three runs.

"I'm tired of that guy," Royals outfielder David DeJesus said jokingly.

"(Kansas City) was swinging early," Lee said. "That allowed me to have some quick innings. Sometimes that philosophy works, sometimes it doesn't. It obviously worked in the ninth."

Shoppach blasted Gil Meche's 0-1 offering in the second inning over the left field wall for his 20th home run, giving the Indians a 2-1 lead. He drove in two more runs with a single in the fifth that capped Cleveland's four-run inning and opened a 6-1 advantage.

Shoppach started the season as the Indians' backup catcher, but injuries to All-Star Victor Martinez put Shoppach into an everyday role, where he has thrived.

"I have been fortunate this season," Shoppach said. "I have grown up a lot getting a chance to play every day."

Choo drove in the game's first run with a first-inning single and added another run-scoring base hit in the fifth to spark the Indians' big inning. Ben Francisco added an RBI double two batters later, and Shoppach capped the uprising with his single.

Meche (11-11) yielded six runs and 10 hits in five innings with a walk and seven strikeouts. The six runs allowed were the most the righthander has given up since allowing eight against Cleveland on April 22. It was his first head-to-head meeting with Lee, but he didn't fare any better than his predecessors.

"You just don't see that kind of year from a pitcher," Meche said of Lee. "He's pitched great. You want to beat someone who's pitched like he has. I was hoping I could say I was the third guy who beat him."

The Indians kept tacking on runs against the Royals' bullpen. Sizemore doubled in two runs and scored on Jhonny Peralta's sacrifice fly in the sixth before Asdrubal Cabrera blasted a two-run homer in the seventh - his first since August 11.

Choo capped the scoring with a solo shot in the eighth.

Jose Guillen hit two solo blasts for the Royals, posting his second multi-homer game of the season and 11th career. Mark Teahen also drove in a pair of runs.