Cliff Lee Earns 11th Win as Cleveland Indians Beat San Francisco Giants

11 was the number of the day. Cliff Lee struck out 11 Giants and joined Joe Saunders and Brandon Webb as the league leaders in wins with 11. He paced Cleveland to a 4-1 win, avoiding the series sweep against the San Francisco Giants.

Brian Horwitz, the biggest contributor to Lee’s victory, struck out three times and was 0-3 on the night. Rich Aurilia and Travis Denker both struck out twice. 

These three, the five, six and seven hitters, highlighted Lee’s second inning strike out of the side.  Lee repeated the feat in the top of the seventh, getting three K’s on the same three gents after giving up a lead-off single to Molina.  On the night, he gave up one run on three hits.

Joe Borowski came on in the ninth and shut down the Giants, only allowing Rowand on base after a Casey Blake error.  He registered his sixth save of the season.

The Indians offense put up four runs on eight hits.  In the bottom of the third, they broke a 0-0 tie by putting up three runs.  Kelly Shoppach opened the third with a single. 

After a Grady Sizemore fly-out, Jamey Carroll tripled to left and scored Shoppach.  Ben Francisco earned a free pass on four pitches, and Jhonny Peralta cashed in the walk by hitting a double, scoring both Carroll and Francisco.  Shin-Soo Choo and Casey Blake both flied out, ending the inning.

The Giants got one of those three back in the fourth.  After an Aaron Rowand double to center, Aurilia singled with two out, scoring Rowand.

It was the only inning all night the Giants strung together a pair of hits against the lights-out Lee. 

Cleveland got their fourth run in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs, Shoppach doubled, and Sizemore walked, bringing up Jamey Carrol.  He singled home Shoppach for the second time of the night, giving him two RBI total.

The win, while keeping them in the basement, does move them into a tie for last with the idle Kansas City Royals and they are STILL only 7.5 games out of first place in a weak, tight AL Central.

The Minnesota Twins are the hottest team in the division. They are on a nine game tear and just a half game out of first place.

The Indians host the Cincinnati Reds in a three game set that opens Friday at 7:05. They hope to get off on the right foot with lefty C.C. Sabathia, who’s 5-8 on the season with a 4.06 ERA.  He has a chance to break into the threes in ERA against Daryl Thompson. 

Thompson is making the second big league start of his career.  He’s 0-0 with an ERA of 0.00.  In his first outing, he went five innings, giving up four hits and no runs against the New York Yankees. 

Can the Indians offense break out against the rookie? 

Cleveland will be looking for payback.  The Reds swept the Indians in their first series meeting this year and were the team that started a seven game losing streak for the Tribe.