Tribe completes sweep of Tampa Bay



C.C. Sabathia finally received some offensive support in the 10-0 victory.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- C.C. Sabathia felt a bit strange pitching with such a big lead.
Sabathia (2-1) worked seven innings as the Cleveland Indians routed the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 10-0 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.
"Actually, I prefer pitching in tight games," Sabathia said. "I get that many runs, I'm afraid I'll get too relaxed and my mind starts to wander."
Sabathia, who has lost four potential wins this year when the bullpen blew leads, gave up five hits, struck out six and improved to 5-0 in five career starts against Tampa Bay.
Big RBI men
Travis Hafner and Ben Broussard each drove in four runs as the Indians won their fourth in a row and fifth in six games since a five-game losing streak. Hafner hit two-run doubles in the fifth and sixth, and Broussard hit a pair of two-run singles.
Jody Gerut's career-high hitting streak was snapped at 17 games. He drew four walks, then struck out in the eighth against ex-Indians reliever Danys Baez.
"It's frustrating, shoot," Gerut said. "The plan is to get a pitch to hit and put a swing on it. I had to stay disciplined. You don't improve your chances of getting a hit by swinging wild at something."
Matt Miller, called up Friday from Triple-A Buffalo, struck out five in the final two innings.
Tampa Bay was shut out for the sixth time this year in its 17th loss in 20 games, and didn't look good doing it.
Cleveland scored six unearned runs in the fifth, helped by two Devil Rays errors, three walks and one mental mistake.
"That was awesome," said Sabathia, who lowered his ERA to 2.03. "I felt good today, but even better after that inning."
Alex Escobar started it with a slicing drive off Doug Waechter (1-4) that faded away from right fielder Jose Cruz Jr. for a triple.
One out later, Matt Lawton hit a bouncer to first baseman Tino Martinez, who had Escobar caught off third. But Martinez double-clutched, then threw wildly, allowing Escobar to score and Lawton to go to second.
"I made a bad decision," Martinez said. "It was my fault, period. If I don't make that error, it's a different ball game."
Lawton scored on a fly to short center by Ronnie Belliard that Rocco Baldelli dropped for an error as he tried to avoid second baseman Rey Sanchez.
Gerut then drew his third consecutive walk, Victor Martinez walked to load the bases, and Hafner hit a two-run double.
Martinez rounded third on the play and should've been an easy out. Third baseman Geoff Blum apparently thought Martinez had scored, however, and caught the ball with his back to the plate and simply stood on the bag as the runner scrambled back to the base safely.
Waechter wouldn't blame his defense, however.
"A lot of things happened in that inning," he said, "but I need to take the ball and get another out."
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