Indians-Yankees: Cleveland Loses to New York, 1-0

By Dave Wiley

The Indians five game winning streak was snapped on Sunday afternoon at Progressive field in Cleveland, Ohio with a 1-0 loss to the New York Yankees. 

In an epic pitching battle, C.C. Sabathia went eight innings for the Tribe, holding a powerful Yankee offense to one run on four hits while striking out eight and walking only one.  While all those numbers sound fantastic, it was not enough as the one lone run was the difference maker in this one. 

New York’s Chien-Ming Wang pitched even better, giving up four hits in seven innings, and not allowing a run, earning the victory.  All told, the Yankees pitching rang up thirteen strikeouts on Tribe hitters, Wang getting nine of those.  Wang is 5-0 on the season for the Yankees.

Sabathia went 1-2-3 in four of his eight innings.  It would have been five but for a Garko error in the third that allowed Johnny Damon to reach base.  The fifth inning cost Sabathia the win, dropping his season record to 1-4.  He gave up a solo home run to Melky Cabrera.  In the loss, C.C. still managed to drop his ERA by almost two points to a 7.88.

Chien-Ming Wang was not as efficient as Sabathia.  He only set the Tribe down in order two innings, the second and the seventh.

The Indians had a number of scoring opportunities despite the lack of offense.  They had two on with one out in the bottom of the first and couldn’t get anyone home. 

In the third, Michaels started the inning off with a double and moved to third on a past ball with two out.  He was left stranded as well.  Two outs in the inning were pop ups in the infield.

The bottom of the fourth saw Martinez open the frame with a single.  Three straight strikeouts by Garko, Peralta, and Blake left him on the same base the entire time.

The eighth and ninth saw 1-2-3 innings for Yankees pitching as well.  Chamberlain set the Tribe down in order in the eighth.  Mariano Rivera did it in the ninth.

These two meet for the final game of the four game set Monday at 7:05.  Mike Mussina pitches against Cleveland’s Aaron Laffey.  The game will be televised on ESPN.