Power outages have dominated the news for the last two days.
Jacobs Field hosted one last night, and it was C.C. Sabathia who was lights out.
Sabathia, coming up with what may have been his best start of the season, tossed a complete-game four-hitter and the Indians slipped by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 1-0.
Catcher Josh Bard drove in the lone run, smacking a one-out single off Devil Rays relief pitcher Travis Harper in the ninth inning to score pinch-runner Zach Sorensen.
The shutout was the first of Sabathia's three-year career. He became the first Indians pitcher to throw a 1-0 complete-game victory since July 7, 1990, when Buddy Black did it against the Oakland A's.
It was the Indians' first walk-off 1-0 win since July 23, 1992, when Sandy Alomar Jr. scored on a Carlos Baerga sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 14th against Kansas City.
Sabathia (11-7, 3.28 ERA) was marvelous, striking out a season- high nine and walking four. In his last four starts, he's 3-1 with a 1.53 ERA.
He struck out the side on 10 pitches in the eighth.
“The thing about C.C.,” said Bard, “is that everyone talks about him being a power pitcher. He is a power pitcher, but he is more than that. He is a pitcher.
“To have a guy like that who competes like he does is some´ thing to see.”
Sabathia overcame a third-inning shot to the left ankle (he shrugged it off and continued), along with a walk in the fifth inning to Toby Hall on three balls.
Home plate umpire Dale Scott, who apparently lost track of the count, allowed Hall to take the base when it reached 3 and 2. “At the time,” Sabathia said, “I had no clue that it happened.”
The walk became a moot point when Sabathia retired the next two.
The D-Rays threatened in the ninth. Sabathia had retired 18 of 19 when Aubrey Huff hit a two- out checked-swing single that Casey Blake fielded at third base. A wild throw to Ben Broussard allowed Huff to get into second. An intentional walk to Rookie of the Year candidate Rocco Bald´ elli put runners on first and sec´ ond.
The threat ended when Sabathia got Travis Lee on a ground ball out.
Travis Hafner, who hit for the cycle on Thursday in Minneapo´ lis, started the winning rally with a single to right and was replaced by Sorensen. Pinch-hitter Coco Crisp dropped a sacrifice bunt that moved Sorensen up a base.
The stage was set for Bard after Alex Escobar, called up from Class AAA Buffalo, hit a ground ball that shortstop Julio Lugo fielded cleanly. But the throw to first was wild, allowing Escobar to reach.
Up came Bard, who singled in the gap between right and cen´ ter.
The hit was Bard’s third in 20 at-bats since being called up from Buffalo one week ago.
“I was ecstatic,” said Bard. “I got off to a slow start here. More than anything I wanted to con´ tribute.”
Sabathia was happy to see Bard break the game open. “I got excited when Josh got the hit,” said Sabathia. “I got so excited I elbowed Johnny Mac [McDon´ ald]. I might have knocked a tooth out.”
Sabathia outdueled Victor Zambrano, who worked eight scoreless innings without a deci´ sion for the second time this sea´ son.
Watching the Indians and Devil Rays is like watching two teams with players barely old enough to purchase adult bever´ ages. Tampa Bay is big-league baseball’s youngest team, averag´ ing 26.37 years; the Tribe is the second youngest — 27.21.
Youth notwithstanding, most of the participants agreed it was an entertaining game. “It was a fun game,” Sabathia said. “[Zambrano] was dealing. So was I.”
Not everyone agreed that it was entertaining. “I thought it was a really boring game,” said Lee. “A lot of guys swung at the first pitch.”