Verlander wins 13th as Tigers
top Indians
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By JOE MILICIA The Associated Press |
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CLEVELAND (AP) — Justin Verlander
possesses the confidence of a crafty veteran and the swagger of a hard-throwing
rookie. It's a combination the Cleveland Indians and every team he's faced the
last seven weeks couldn't beat.
Verlander outpitched
C.C. Sabathia, and the Detroit Tigers beat the
Indians 4-1 Wednesday to continue their domination of the AL Central.
Verlander (13-4) struck out a career-high eight
and allowed one run and five hits in 6 2-3 innings. He didn't walk anyone and
is 6-0 in his last eight starts with a 1.72 ERA.
"He's confident, halfway cocky, which is good,"
teammate Craig Monroe said. "Maybe that gives him the edge."
Magglio Ordonez hit a two-run double in the
sixth inning to break up the scoreless pitcher's duel.
"Going against C.C. I knew runs were
going to be scarce most likely," Verlander said.
"Thankfully, our guys were able to cross the plate four times and I shut
them down for the most part."
The Tigers have won five straight series and had to rebound from
Tuesday night's 12-7 loss to do it.
"I thought we had some of the best at-bats we've had of the
year today. I'm so proud of them," manager Jim Leyland said. "We got
our brains beat out (Tuesday) night and they come right back and win against a
real tough pitcher."
Verlander is tied with Josh Beckett and Curt
Schilling of
His only mistake came against rookie Joe Inglett,
who hit his first career home run on a 1-0 pitch with two outs in the seventh.
"He was done,"
Todd Jones pitched a perfect ninth for his 27th save in 30
chances.
Verlander retired nine straight before giving up
singles to Casey Blake and Inglett to start the
fifth. He struck out Jhonny Peralta and got Ramon
Vazquez to hit into a double play to get out of his only jam.
"They've got electric stuff. Electric," said Jason
Michaels, of Verlander and Joel Zumaya,
who pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings. "It felt like a thousand miles an
hour. Just blowing me away. I was just trying to get
something on it."
Sabathia (7-7) went seven innings, giving up
four runs and nine hits.
One of his three walks went to Marcus Thames, who was 0-for-19,
when he batted in the sixth inning. Sabathia then
gave up a double to
"We put some hits together and got three runs,"
Ordonez said. "You don't get many chances against C.C. You have to take
advantage."
Sabathia has lost three straight starts and
five of eight. In his last start, the left-hander was removed by manager Eric
Wedge after 42 pitches in a loss against
Sabathia got out of trouble in the fourth and fifth
with inning-ending double plays, but lost his control in the three-run sixth.
"It's a good lineup and I got the watered-down
version," Sabathia said. "No Dmitri (Young). No Pudge (Ivan
Rodriguez)."
Placido Polanco's
RBI single in the seventh made it 4-0.
Inglett, who has seen increased playing time
at second due to an injury to Ronnie Belliard, got a
few slaps on the back in the Indians dugout after making it 4-1 in the bottom
half on a 392-foot shot that landed in the first few rows of seats in right.
Grady Sizemore reached second on an error to lead off the game
when
The Indians, who scored seven runs off Kenny Rogers in the first
inning Tuesday, looked they could have another fast start. But Verlander easily retired the next three batters, striking
out Victor Martinez to end the threat.
"Just a tremendous effort,"
Notes:@ The Tigers' last series loss
came when they dropped two of three in