Sabathia injured early; Indians pull out victory late

Ben Broussard's double scored Jody Gerut for the game-winner in the 12th.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Ben Broussard lined a game-winning double in the 12th inning to give the Cleveland Indians a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night.
The Indians lost ace C.C. Sabathia, who left with a sore shoulder after retiring the side in the first on only eight pitches. Sabathia was taken for an MRI.
Jody Gerut singled with one out off former Indians reliever Steve Reed (1-2), who was the winner Friday night when Colorado prevailed 10-8 in 10 innings.
Broussard then lined a 3-2 pitch the opposite way to left-center and Gerut, running on the pitch, scored standing up.
Jeriome Robertson (1-0), recalled from Triple-A Buffalo earlier Saturday, pitched two scoreless innings for his first win since being acquired by Cleveland in spring training from the Houston Astros.
Ronnie Belliard, signed in the off-season as a free agent after being released by the Rockies, went 4-for-5 for Cleveland, which out-hit Colorado 17-10.
Left early
Sabathia quickly retired the Rockies in order in the first inning, but the 6-foot-7 left-hander went to the dugout holding his shoulder and moving his arm in a circular motion.
The 23-year-old had worked eight innings in each of his two previous starts and allowed a total of two runs. He was going for his sixth win of the season. He ranks third among starters in the AL with an ERA of 2.77.
Sabathia was scratched from a start at Jacobs Field on April 22 with an irritated left biceps tendon in the front of his shoulder. He was sidelined until May 1, when he allowed one run over seven innings in a no-decision against Baltimore.
Kazuhito Tadano, the first Japanese player in Indians history, gave up one run over a career-high six innings after replacing Sabathia to start the second. He walked one and struck out nine.
Colorado tied it 3-all with two unearned runs in the eighth, helped by a fielding error by second baseman Belliard and a mental miscue by reliever Rick White, who failed to cover first base on a groundball.
Royce Clayton got an RBI single and another run scored on a sacrifice fly by Todd Helton to tie it.
Cleveland scored three runs on 11 hits over seven innings against Colorado starter Joe Kennedy.
Lou Merloni put Cleveland ahead with a check-swing RBI single in the first and Cleveland made it 2-0 on an RBI grounder by Omar Vizquel in the second.
Vinny Castilla's RBI single on a 3-2 pitch with two outs in the seventh made it 2-1, but Matt Lawton's two-out RBI single in the bottom half restored Cleveland's two-run lead.
Notes
Cleveland signed free-agent INF Aaron Boone to a two-year, $3.6 million contract with a club option for 2006. RHP Jeff D'Amico was released to make room on the roster for Boone, who is recovering from left knee surgery in February and will not play until late August at the earliest. ... The Indians put RHP Rafael Betancourt on the 15-day disabled list with right biceps tendinitis.
COLORADOCLEVELAND
abrhbiabrhbi
LuGnzl 2b4000Blliard 2b5040
Clayton ss6021Vizquel ss5001
Helton 1b4121Lawton lf5011
PrWlsn cf6000VMrtnz dh6000
LWalkr dh4020Blake 3b6130
Castilla 3b4011Gerut rf5110
Hlliday lf2000Merloni 1b3021
Burnitz rf2000Brssrd 1b3021
Miles 2b1000Crisp cf4110
Greene c4120Laker c4130
Hcking rf4110
Totals413103Totals464174
Colorado000000120000--3
Cleveland011000100001--4
One out when winning run scored.
E--Greene (2), Belliard (5). DP--Colorado 3, Cleveland 2. LOB--Colorado 10, Cleveland 14. 2B--Helton (23), Greene (8), Belliard 2 (23), Blake (14), Broussard (13). SB--Blake (3), Merloni (1). S--LuGonzalez 2, Hocking, Vizquel, Laker. SF--Helton.
IPHRERBBSO
Colorado
JKennedy7113321
Kroon1-310001
Harikkala2 2-330021
SReed L,1-21 1-321100
Cleveland
Sabathia100000
Tadano641119
RiWhite352010
Robertson W,1-0210022
Umpires--Home, Brian Knight; First, Brian O'Nora; Second, Phil Cuzzi; Third, Jerry Crawford. T--3:43. A--29,124.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.