Friday, August 22, 2008
Shin-Soo Choo hit a two-run homer and Jhonny Peralta hit a solo home run for Cleveland.
CLEVELAND (AP) — An 18-2 record pitching for any team is impressive.
Cliff Lee’s season has been truly remarkable because he’s been practically unbeatable for team that’s been less than mediocre.
The Indians’ left-hander recorded his AL-best 18th victory and won his seventh straight decision as Cleveland beat the Kansas City Royals 10-3 Thursday.
Lee, the Cy Young award front-runner, allowed three runs — two earned — and six hits in seven innings.
He struck out seven and induced four double plays. Lee leads the AL in wins, winning percentage (.900) and ERA (2.43) for a team that’s 59-67 and, until recently, was fighting to get out of last place in the Central Division.
“He’s had a great year,” said Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore, who didn’t have a bad day himself with a career-high seven RBIs. “It’s not a surprise anymore when he goes out there and pitches like that.”
While the Indians completed a 7-3 homestand, the Royals have lost five straight, 12 of 14 and head back to Kansas City after a 1-8 road trip.
“It wasn’t a good day or road trip,” manager Trey Hillman said after his team made two errors, leading to four unearned runs.
Sizemore, who was 4-for-5, had a three-run triple in the second, a run-scoring single in the sixth and a three-run homer in the eighth.
Shin-Soo Choo hit a two-run homer in the third and Jhonny Peralta hit a solo home run in the seventh for Cleveland, which swept the three-game series.
Zack Greinke (9-9) allowed five runs in five innings. Despite the errors by his defense, the right-hander took the blame for the loss.
“I usually do a good job of getting out of those problems,” he said. “It’s not like those errors would have ended the inning. I’m not making good pitches after that.”
Lee didn’t give his latest outing a favorable review.
“I didn’t feel like I had my best stuff,” he said. “I had to battle. The double plays were big. Give credit to the offense. When you get five runs in the first three innings, it gives you some cushion.”
Lee walked two batters in the second, but was assisted by the first double play. He retired eight in a row at one point before pinch-hitter Jason Smith reached on a one-out error by third baseman Jamey Carroll in the fifth.
Lee also had double plays turned behind him in the sixth and seventh.
Lee is unbeaten at Progressive Field in 2008, going 8-0 with a 2.39 ERA in 11 starts.