Tribe’s Lee flirts with no-hitter

CLEVELAND (AP) — Cliff Lee threw seven innings of no-hit ball before settling for a three-hitter to give the Cleveland Indians a 3-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday night.

Lee (4-6) allowed only two first-inning walks until Yadier Molina opened the eighth with an opposite-field drive down the right-field line that hit off the wall for a double.

That broke a string of 20 in a row set down by the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, who was bidding for the first no-hitter at Progressive Field and first by a Cleveland pitcher since Len Barker’s perfect game against Toronto on May 15, 1981.

“Whatever man,” Lee said. “They didn’t score any runs, that’s the ultimate goal.”

Mark DeRosa hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Kelly Shoppach got a solo shot in the fifth off Chris Carpenter (4-1), who won the NL Cy Young in 2005.

Lee improved to 12-2 in interleague play — the best winning percentage of any pitcher with at least 12 decisions. Cleveland is 15-5 overall in Lee’s starts against the NL.

The left-hander was trying to become the first reigning Cy Young winner to throw a no-hitter since St. Louis’ Bob Gibson beat Pittsburgh 11-0 on Aug. 14, 1971.

After walking Brendan Ryan to open the game and issuing a one-out walk to Albert Pujols, the left-hander settled into a groove. He got out of that early jam by getting Ryan Ludwick on a fly ball to the warning track in right field and retiring Nick Stavinoha on a grounder to third.

Lee retired the side on four pitches in the second inning.

After making 21 pitches in the first, Lee threw only 50 pitches — 41 for strikes — until the eighth.

Before Molina’s slicing drive fell just out of the reach of right fielder Shin-Soo Choo, the closest the Cardinals came to a hit was with two outs in the seventh. Nick Stavinoha topped a slow roller toward third that Jhonny Peralta charged. Peralta’s throw was scooped out of the dirt by first baseman Victor Martinez as the crowd of 23,644 roared.

Ryan singled to open the ninth and went to second on a two-out line single to left by Ryan Ludwick. Lee then got Stavinoha to fly out to right on the first pitch to end it. He struck out six in his third career shutout, which took 1 hour, 58 minutes.

DeRosa lined an 0-1 pitch from Carpenter into the left-field seats to put Cleveland ahead in the first inning 2-0. Jamey Carroll drew a leadoff walk and scored on DeRosa’s 11th homer.

Three fine defensive plays by Cardinals infielders kept Carpenter from further trouble.