INDIANS Sabathia's first career shutout leads Tribe

Josh Bard's game-winning single in the ninth inning beat Tampa Bay, 1-0.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- C.C. Sabathia kept the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the dark Friday night.
In a stadium that was without power 24 hours earlier, Sabathia had his best outing of the year, striking out a season-high nine and getting his first career shutout.
Catcher Josh Bard hit a one-out RBI single in the ninth inning to lead the Cleveland Indians to a 1-0 victory. The Indians have won four straight and seven of their last eight games.
"When Josh got that hit, I elbowed John McDonald," Sabathia said. "I might have knocked a tooth out."
Some of Friday night's game was played like Jacobs Field was still in the dark.
Three-ball walk
Home plate umpire Dale Scott walked Toby Hall on three balls in the fifth inning. A replay showed that Hall fell to 0-2 in the count, fouled off several pitches and walked on ball three.
Scott said he thought the scoreboard's 2-2 count was wrong and announced that the count was 3-2 to Hall and Bard.
"Everybody was just quiet. It was like a church. Nobody said anything," Scott said. "It's very rare that you have a wrong count that nobody says something."
Both Hall and Sabathia were unaware of what happened. Bard said he asked about the count and Scott said it was 3-2.
Hall's easy walk didn't faze the left-hander.
Sabathia (11-7) got more dominant as the game progressed, striking out the side in the eighth on 10 pitches and retiring 14 of his last 16 batters.
"I was trying to get ahead with my fastball," Sabathia said. "I saw early they were hacking. I was trying to throw it off the plate and let them hit it."
He allowed just four hits and walked three in his second straight win.
"That's as good as he's been all season," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "He had a lot left, as you could see by the way he pitched in the eighth and ninth innings."
Pitching duel
Victor Zambrano matched Sabathia through eight innings, allowing three hits and four walks and striking out seven.
"Victor's been pitching well for us," Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella said. "He settled down and gave us eight excellent innings of baseball. Their guy was just a little bit better."
Travis Hafner led off the ninth with a single against Travis Harper (2-7), then pinch-runner Zach Sorensen advanced to second on Coco Crisp's sacrifice. After Alex Escobar reached on shortstop Julio Lugo's error, Bard got the decisive hit then pumped his fists in the air as Sorensen scored.
The Indians and Devil Rays totaled just nine hits. Tampa Bay couldn't get a runner to third base and Cleveland squandered three scoring chances.
Nearly rallied
Tampa Bay almost scored in the ninth when Aubrey Huff singled with two outs then advanced to third on third baseman Casey Blake's throwing error.
After an intentional walk to Rocco Baldelli, Sabathia got Travis Lee to ground.
"It was a really boring game," Lee said. "A lot of guys were swinging at the first pitch."
Sabathia was supported by a solid defense that turned two inning-ending double plays. Shortstop Jhonny Peralta retired two baserunners on hard hit grounders deep into the hole.