C.C. Sabathia and Grady Sizemore led the Indians past the Twins and Johan Santana.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Grady Sizemore homered and had four RBIs for the Cleveland Indians, who started an important four-game series against the Minnesota Twins with a 5-2 victory Friday night.
Importance was a relative term, though, two days after the freeway bridge that collapsed a few blocks away and killed at least five people. A crowd announced at 31,664 came to catch a ball game and forget about the tragedy for a while.
Fans saw ace Johan Santana (11-9) lose his third straight decision, to C.C. Sabathia (14-6). Cleveland moved past Detroit into first place in the AL Central for the first time in nearly a month, and Minnesota fell to 61/2 games back. Michael Cuddyer and Torii Hunter had two hits apiece for the Twins.
Sabathia gave up eight hits and two walks while needing 107 pitches to complete six innings, but he struck out three and worked his way out of trouble well to win for the second time in his last six starts.
Joe Borowski pitched the ninth for his 30th save in 33 attempts.
On the day after he turned 25, Sizemore showed some of the all-around skills that are among the best in baseball by first bashing a 1-0 pitch from Santana into the football seats above right field for a two-run shot in the third inning. Sizemore then singled in the fifth to follow Franklin Gutierrez's leadoff triple and give the Indians the lead again at 3-2.
In the seventh after Santana was removed, Sizemore fought off a pitch from Dennys Reyes near his fists and managed to muscle a broken-bat RBI single with one out in the seventh that made it 4-2.
Santana's usual after-the-All-Star-break dominance hasn't appeared yet this year. He's had four quality starts of three earned runs or less and six innings or more, with only one clunker, but he's won just once and Minnesota is a mere 2-3 when he's pitched in the second half.
Players upset
The minimal offensive support hasn't helped, of course, and Twins players were upset earlier this week when popular second baseman and leadoff hitter Luis Castillo was dealt for two minor-leaguers and the team didn't acquire anyone to help the lineup before Tuesday's trade deadline. Santana criticized the direction and philosophy of the franchise, going so far to say it didn't "make any sense" for him to be in Minnesota.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
C.C. Sabathia and Grady Sizemore led the Indians past the Twins and Johan Santana.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Grady Sizemore homered and had four RBIs for the Cleveland Indians, who started an important four-game series against the Minnesota Twins with a 5-2 victory Friday night.
Importance was a relative term, though, two days after the freeway bridge that collapsed a few blocks away and killed at least five people. A crowd announced at 31,664 came to catch a ball game and forget about the tragedy for a while.
Fans saw ace Johan Santana (11-9) lose his third straight decision, to C.C. Sabathia (14-6). Cleveland moved past Detroit into first place in the AL Central for the first time in nearly a month, and Minnesota fell to 61/2 games back. Michael Cuddyer and Torii Hunter had two hits apiece for the Twins.
Sabathia gave up eight hits and two walks while needing 107 pitches to complete six innings, but he struck out three and worked his way out of trouble well to win for the second time in his last six starts.
Joe Borowski pitched the ninth for his 30th save in 33 attempts.
On the day after he turned 25, Sizemore showed some of the all-around skills that are among the best in baseball by first bashing a 1-0 pitch from Santana into the football seats above right field for a two-run shot in the third inning. Sizemore then singled in the fifth to follow Franklin Gutierrez's leadoff triple and give the Indians the lead again at 3-2.
In the seventh after Santana was removed, Sizemore fought off a pitch from Dennys Reyes near his fists and managed to muscle a broken-bat RBI single with one out in the seventh that made it 4-2.
Santana's usual after-the-All-Star-break dominance hasn't appeared yet this year. He's had four quality starts of three earned runs or less and six innings or more, with only one clunker, but he's won just once and Minnesota is a mere 2-3 when he's pitched in the second half.
Players upset
The minimal offensive support hasn't helped, of course, and Twins players were upset earlier this week when popular second baseman and leadoff hitter Luis Castillo was dealt for two minor-leaguers and the team didn't acquire anyone to help the lineup before Tuesday's trade deadline. Santana criticized the direction and philosophy of the franchise, going so far to say it didn't "make any sense" for him to be in Minnesota.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Grady Sizemore homered and had four RBIs for the Cleveland Indians, who started an important four-game series against...
