Recapping Sunday's MLB Action: Pitching the Big Story

Baseball fans were treated to a day of great pitching duels and performances on Sunday afternoon, as there were four shutouts as well as several other low-scoring games.

Meanwhile, a pair of high-priced hurlers--one from Kansas City and the other from San Francisco--continued to struggle.

At Progressive Field in Cleveland, Chien-Ming Wang outduelled C.C. Sabathia and the New York Yankees shut out the Indians 1-0.

Wang is now 5-0 this season with a 3.23 ERA following his four-hit, seven-inning gem. The right-hander fanned nine and became the American League's first five-game winner.

Sabathia fell to 1-8 in 9 career regular season starts against the Bombers, though Cleveland fans can take solace in the fact that the 2007 AL Cy Young winner has now turned in two straight strong starts after struggling in his first four.

Sabathia, who gave up only four hits--including Melky Cabrera's fifth-inning homer--in eight innings, saw his ERA drop from 10.13 to 7.88.

Mariano Rivera closed things out in the ninth for the Yankees, picking up his seventh save of the season and No. 450 in his career.

The bad news for the Yanks came after the game, when they placed catcher Jorge Posada on the disabled list. Posada, who didn't play on Sunday, has been battling a sore shoulder.

In St. Petersburg, Florida, James Shields pitched the Tampa Bay Rays to a first-place tie in the AL East with a complete-game shutout, beating the reeling Boston Red Sox 3-0. The Rays have now won six straight and are 14-11, while the Red Sox have lost five in a row.

Shield's two-hit shutout put Tampa Bay into a tie with the Baltimore Orioles atop the division. The Red Sox are 15-12 and are also tied with the Rays and Orioles (.560), though Boston is percentage points behind (.556) by virtue of having played more games.

Boston's Josh Beckett fanned a career-high 13 batters in his seven innings of work, but still couldn't stop the Red Sox's losing streak. Beckett gave up four hits and two runs--one earned.

There were only two walks and seven hits total for both clubs in the entire game, which took only 2 hours and 25 minutes.

In Arlington, Texas, Vicente Padilla threw a seven-hit, complete-game shutout, as the Rangers defeated the Minnesota Twins 10-0.

Incredibly, Padilla's gem came after he had surrendered seven runs and eight hits in his three innings just five days earlier to the Detroit Tigers.

The Twins' Livan Hernandez, who entered the game with a 3-0 record and 3.55 ERA and had pitched at least six innings in every start, was pounded for nine hits and seven runs. Hernandez couldn't make it out of the third inning, his shortest outing of the year. Minnesota had won all five of Hernandez's starts this season prior to Sunday's shellacking.

In Kansas City, Jesse Litsch played stopper in leading the Toronto Blue Jays past the Royals 5-2.

Litsch, the Jays' fifth starter, allowed just one unearned run and five hits in seven innings, helping Toronto end an ugly six-game losing streak.

Litsch, who had two consective lackluster outings prior to Sunday's gem, is now 3-1.

Litsch was charged with two errors on one play in the third inning, which led to two runs as the Royals tied the game 2-2. But the right-hander did not allow another run the rest of the way.

Gil Meche, who is in his second year of a five-year, $55-million contract, continued to struggle for the Royals. An All-Star last season, Meche is now 1-4 with a 7.22 ERA this year.

Rookie left-hander Jesse Carlson earned his first big-league save for the Blue Jays.

In Seattle, the Mariners' Felix Hernandez was working on a four-hit shutout with ten strikeouts against the Oakland A's entering the eighth inning before running into trouble. The A's put the first four batters reached base in the inning, chasing Hernandez.

By the time the inning ended, the A's had taken a 4-2 lead, sending Hernanez to his first loss of the season.

Despite the defeat, Hernandez's ERA is a fine 2.22.

Over in the National League, rookie John Lannan pitched seven scoreless innings in Washington, and the Nationals beat the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs 2-0. Lannan has not allowed a run in his last 19 innings.

The Cubs' Ted Lilly, in his 200th major-league start, allowed just two runs and four hits in six innings, but fell to 1-4.

The premier NL duel came at Petco Park, where Arizona's Brandon Webb improved to 6-0 as the Diamondbacks got past the sputtering San Diego Padres 2-1.

Webb got out of bases-loaded jams in the fifth and sixth innings, allowing just one unearned run in six innings. The former NL Cy Young winner, who saw his ERA dip to 1.98, became the majors' first six-game winner this season.

Catcher Chris Snyder socked a two-run homer off Jake Peavy for the difference in the game. Peavy, the 2007 NL Cy Young winner, allowed four hits in seven innings.

Peavy is now 3-1 with a 2.09 ERA.

In San Francisco, the Reds' Edinson Volquez improved to 4-0 as Cincinnati defeated the Giants 10-1.

Volquez allowed five hits in seven innings, striking out ten, though his ERA rose to 1.23.

Arguably, the worst pitching performace of the day came from the Giants' $126-million man, Barry Zito.

Zito allowed six runs in the first inning and surrendered runs in every inning he was on the mound, falling to 0-6 in six starts this season.

Zito's line: 3 IP, 7 H, 8 ER, 3 BB, 1 K.

The Giants' lefty has a 7.53 ERA this season, after going 11-13 with a career-high 4.53 ERA in his first year with San Fran last year.

Word out of San Francisco is that the Giants may send Zito to the bullpen sooner or later, especially if he continues to struggle.