Sabathia whiffs 10 to beat Maddux, lift Indians

[June 16, 2008]  CLEVELAND (AP) -- C.C. Sabathia outpitched Greg Maddux in a matchup of Cy Young winners, and the Cleveland Indians defeated the San Diego Padres 7-3 Sunday.

Ben Francisco hit a three-run homer and Grady Sizemore a solo shot, his ninth homer in 16 games, as Cleveland took two of three in the interleague series.

Coming off a five-hitter against Minnesota on Tuesday, Sabathia (5-8) struck out 10 and allowed three runs and six hits over eight innings. His 14th game of double-digit strikeouts helped him past Charles Nagy for fifth place in Indians history with 1,239.

Maddux (3-5) fell to 0-2 in seven starts since May 10, when he became the ninth pitcher to win 350 games. The 42-year-old didn't issue a walk for the seventh time in 15 starts this season, but wasn't as sharp as usual. The four-time NL Cy Young winner hit a batter, threw a wild pitch, and even made an uncharacteristic error that led to three unearned runs.

Cleveland went ahead 3-0 in the third after Maddux fielded Franklin Gutierrez's slow roller and threw wildly to first for an error -- only the 52nd by the 17-time Gold Glove winner since he came to the majors in 1986.

Two outs later, Maddux hit Jamey Carroll with a pitch. Francisco then lined the first pitch he saw just over the wall in left for his fourth homer.

Sabathia yielded a leadoff double to former teammate Jody Gerut to start the game, then struck out the next five.

The left-hander had one bad inning, the fourth, when the Padres tied it at 3. Sabathia yielded four singles in the inning, including RBI hits by Justin Huber and Khalil Greene. Michael Barrett added a tying sacrifice fly.

In the bottom half, Shin-Soo Choo doubled, moved up on a grounder back to Maddux and scored on another slow roller by Casey Blake for a 4-3 lead.

Gutierrez's RBI single in the sixth made it 5-3.

Sizemore connected off Cla Meredith for his 17th homer and Jhonny Peralta added an RBI single to make it 7-3 in the seventh.

Maddux allowed two earned runs and eight hits over six innings, striking out two.

Notes: It was the 105th career win for Sabathia. When he won No. 100 last Sept. 28 at age 27, on his way to winning the AL Cy Young, he became the youngest to reach that milestone since Maddux in 1993. ... Padres RF Paul McAnulty left in the first inning with a strained lower back, a few pitches after he broke in on a line drive by Carroll that went over his head for a double. ... Padres RF Brian Giles sat out with sore left shoulder. ... Padres LF Scott Hairston (hyper-extended left elbow) could play in two or three days, manager Bud Black said. ... San Diego is expected to call up OF Chase Headley on Tuesday. He's hitting .305 with 13 homers and 40 RBIs in 65 games at Triple-A Portland, and will play for the Padres on Monday in the Hall of Fame Game in Cooperstown, N.Y., against the Chicago Cubs.

[Associated Press; By JOE KAY]

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