Pitchers are dominant in spring losses by Tribe, Bucs

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TUCSON, Ariz. — Cliff Lee and Aaron Cook were masterful in a matchup of staff aces.

Lee finally resembled his Cy Young Award form while Cook showed crafty command Sunday in the Rockies’ 4-3 win over the Indians.

Lee had struggled this spring, allowing 14 earned runs in 62‚Ñ3 innings coming in. But he found his rhythm against the Rockies, giving up two runs in five innings.

“It’s the kind of progression I wanted to have,” said Lee. “Things kind of came together pretty good today. I feel like I’m right where I need to be.”

The same can be said of Cook, who had another stellar outing.

Relying heavily on his sinker, Cook pitched five innings, giving up just one run and five hits while throwing only 59 pitches.

His 1.89 ERA is among the lowest in the Cactus League.

Cook had some traffic on the bases, but always managed to get out of the jams. In the third, he got Ryan Garko to roll into a 6-4-3 double play to end a potential threat.

Christian Colonel drove in two runs for the Rockies while Jeff Baker went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Ian Stewart had a go-ahead single in the eighth.

George Lombard had a two-run homer and a double for the Indians.

Reds 6, Pirates 0

BRADENTON, Fla. — Reds right-hander Aaron Harang bounced back from a bad start to hold the Pirates without a hit for six innings, facing only two batters over the minimum.

Pittsburgh managed one hit each against relievers Mike Lincoln and David Weathers to avoid the embarrassment of being no-hit in a game that didn’t count.

“I was working on my changeup and slider,” said Harang, the Reds’ scheduled opening day starter. “I feel good because I was throwing them in counts that I wouldn’t normally throw them. I kept it down and kept them off balance. It’s good to know you can throw them in any count.”

Pirates manager John Russell wasn’t discouraged even though his team was limited to singles by Nate McLouth and Craig Monroe. A strong wind in the 25-to-30 mph range that blew in from center field held up some well-hit balls by both teams.

“We hit some balls hard,” said Russell. “I think we had more harder-hit balls than we did [Saturday]. They happened to be right at guys and the wind picked up a couple.”