Tribe shut out by Bannister

April 23, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Brian Bannister was excited to be back in the major leagues — and even more delighted his first start came in Cleveland.

Bannister (1-0) and two relievers outpitched reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Indians 2-0 Wednesday night.

“I just seem to have a feel for this team and do like to pitch in this ballpark,” said Bannister after improving to 3-0 with a 1.44 ERA in four career starts at Progressive Field.

Lee (1-3) allowed two runs and nine hits over eight innings, but matched his loss total of last season. A year ago, the left-hander went 5-0 against the Royals on the way to a 22-3 record and 2.54 ERA. He didn’t get his third loss until Sept. 23 at Boston.

“If you had told me before the game I would pitch eight innings and give up two runs, I would have been happy,” Lee said.

Bannister (1-0), recalled from Triple-A Omaha on Tuesday, improved to 4-1 with a 1.62 ERA overall against the Indians. He allowed four hits and walked only one against a team that came in leading the majors with 76 bases on balls in 14 games.

Jamey Wright worked two scoreless innings and Joakim Soria pitched the ninth for his fifth save. Soria hadn’t worked in a game since saving a 4-2 win over the Indians on April 13.

The right-hander walked Jhonny Peralta with one out and yielded a ground single to center by Shin-Soo Choo. Kelly Shoppach then lined the first pitch to the warning track in left, where David DeJesus made a stumbling catch, hanging on to the ball despite his spikes catching in the wet ground.

“I saw David go back and thought everything was OK,” Royals manager Trey Hillman said.

Both runners moved up on a passed ball by Miguel Olivo before Soria threw a called third strike on the inside corner past Trevor Crowe to end it.

“It’s tough to sit on a curveball when a guy is throwing 92-93 [mph],” Crowe said. “He’s very tough.”