Rookie Sowers silences Yankees

He scattered six hits in seven innings for his first big league win.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CLEVELAND -- Hopelessly out of playoff contention at the halfway point of the season, the Cleveland Indians (38-43) are adapting fairly well to the role of spoiler.
Coming off series wins in St. Louis and Cincinnati, the Tribe opened a four-game set against the New York Yankees (46-34) with a 5-2 victory Monday before a sellout crowd of 42,706.
In his second major league start, 23-year-old Jeremy Sowers scattered six hits over seven innings to earn his first victory and the Tribe's third straight.
"It would be special no matter who it was against," said Sowers of his milestone. "It couldn't have come against a more prominent team."
Sowers' first start was a 4-2 loss to the Reds on June 25.
"I was punished for not working ahead," the Tribe's top pick in the 2004 draft said of the Reds game where he surrendered homers to Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn.
Got into early trouble
Sowers was in trouble early after Johnny Damon led off the game with a single to right field and came home on Jason Giambi's homer for New York's 2-0 lead.
"You just have to forget it and move on," Sowers said of his full-count hanging slider. "In pitching, you have to be able to look forward. No matter what, I wasn't going to get that pitch back."
The Yankees had the St. Clairsville native in trouble again in the third inning after Damon doubled and Derek Jeter singled. But the lefty escaped the jam with a little help from home-plate umpire C.B. Bucknor.
With two strikes on Giambi, Bucknor ruled that an inside pitch nicked the bat and was caught by Victor Martinez for strike three. After an intentional walk to Alex Rodriguez, Sowers struck out Bernie Williams with a slider.
Wedge disagreed
Indians manager Eric Wedge disagreed with the assessment that Sowers had a shaky start.
"Jeremy was in control, very consistent," Wedge said. "He just left a pitch up to Giambi."
Sowers settled down, permitting just two base runners over the next four innings.
"This is something special for him," Martinez said. "After the first inning, he settled down and started working the ball in and out. I didn't think he was nervous."
Things became interesting after Sowers was lifted. A double play helped reliever Fausto Carmona toss a scoreless eighth inning.
But for the third time in five games, closer Bob Wickman found himself in a ninth-inning jam inning as Williams singled and Melky Cabrera drew a one-out walk to bring the potential tying run to the plate.
Trouble with mound
Wickman said he was having trouble with the hole in front of the mound created by Yankees reliever Matt Smith.
"You only have two minutes to fix it and they won't let you take a shovel out there," said Wickman, who retired pinch-hitters Jorge Posada and Kevin Reese on ground outs to give the Indians' their fifth win in seven games.
Wickman said Sowers' composure impressed him.
"That's something you can't teach," Wickman said. "He's done a great job up here considering the huge expectations."
Consecutive singles by Grady Sizemore and Ronnie Belliard in the third inning helped put the Indians ahead for good.
Belliard's bloop single to right allowed Sizemore to race to third base. He scored when shortstop Jeter was unable to get off a throw on Jhonny Peralta's infield hit, cutting the Yankees' lead to 2-1.
After Travis Hafner hit a fielder's choice for the second out, Martinez doubled off the left-field wall to score Belliard and Hafner for a 3-2 lead.
In the sixth inning, Todd Hollandsworth's two-run homer off starter Chien-Ming Wang (8-4) into the Yankees' bullpen extended the Tribe's lead to 5-2.