Monday, March 7, 2005
It's still too early to tell if the Tribe's pitcher will miss any more time.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- C.C. Sabathia never made it out of warm-ups.
The ace of the Cleveland Indians' staff was scratched from his start Sunday against the Detroit Tigers because he strained a right abdominal muscle while warming up.
Manager Eric Wedge said after the Indians and Tigers played to a 2-2, 10-inning tie it was too early to tell if Sabathia would miss any time. The 24-year-old is scheduled for an MRI today.
"We'll see how it goes," Wedge said. "He was upset. I take that as a guy who knows he worked so hard to get ready for the season."
Sabathia came to camp in the best shape of his career after going through a winter conditioning program. The 6-foot-7, 290-pounder had missed his final three starts of the 2004 season with a strained left hamstring.
The left-hander was replaced by lefty Cliff Lee, who allowed one hit and struck out two in two scoreless innings.
"I don't know what happened to C.C., but I could tell something was going on," Lee said. "Fifteen minutes before game time, they told me I was starting. It was no big deal because I knew I was going to pitch two innings today anyway."
The Indians loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th on three one-out walks by reliever John Ennis, who then struck out Jeff Liefer and got Ryan Garko to pop to short to preserve the tie.
Jose Hernandez had an RBI single and minor league infielder Brandon Pinckney hit a home run for Cleveland.
Devil Rays 5, Pirates 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Aubrey Huff contributed with his bat and glove, leading Tampa Bay over Pittsburgh.
Huff hit an RBI double and scored in the fourth inning to give the Devil Rays a 3-2 lead. He temporarily preserved the lead in the sixth, catching a drive by Ty Wigginton against the left-field wall.
Tampa Bay starter Dewon Brazelton struggled through two innings. The right-hander allowed one run on two hits, walked three and threw two wild pitches.
"I felt pretty positive about the way I was throwing the ball," said Brazelton, who had only two wild pitches in 120 2/3 innings last season. "I was really pleased, but I don't want to walk people. Going to where I'm trying to get, you don't want to do that."
Devil Rays catcher Toby Hall's throwing error and passed ball led to a Pirates' run in the second.
The Devil Rays took the lead for good in the sixth. Huff singled with one out, and pinch-runner Joey Gaithright later scored on a sacrifice fly by Travis Lee to make it 4-3.
Jorge Cantu homered off left-hander Mike Gonzalez with two outs in the eighth.
Left-hander Dave Williams pitched the first two innings for Pittsburgh. He walked two batters in the second, then gave up a two-out double to Josh Phelps.
Losing pitcher Ryan Vogelsong allowed three runs in three innings.
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