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Indians Beat C.C. Behind Tomlin; A-Rod Goes 0-4
July 28, 2010 By Todd Shapiro
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CC Sabathia was the pitcher the fans came to see but Josh Tomlin is the one they will remember in the morning.
Making his first Major League start, Tomlin out shined the Yankees $24 million dollar ace, pitching seven innings of one-run, three-hit ball to earn his first big league win as the Indians defeated New York 4-1.
Tomlin shutdown a New York lineup that is first in runs scored in all of baseball this year.
"Josh pitched an outstanding game. He was not intimated by the Yankees," Cleveland manager Manny Acta said. "We were surprised in the dugout that he showed so much confidence. He didn't let the game speed up on him."
Tomlin, who was 8-4 with a 2.68 ERA in Columbus this season, retired the first nine Yankees hitters before allowing a single to Derek Jeter to open the fourth inning. Showing the confidence of a veteran, Tomlin then retired the next nine hitters he faced before surrendering a double off the 19-foot wall in left field to Nick Swisher in the seventh.
"I was nervous out there in the beginning," Tomlin said. "It really took until after I faced A-Rod in the second to really settle down."
Rodriguez, who was celebrating his 35th birthday on Tuesday, will have to wait at least another day to celebrate his 600th career home run after going 0-4, including hitting into a game-ending fielder's choice as the potential game-tying run in the ninth.
New York (63-36) played some un-Yankee like baseball in the fourth inning allowing the Tribe to score a pair of unearned runs to take a 2-0 lead. After back-to-back hits from Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo put runners on second and third with no outs, Austin Kearns hit a sharp grounder to third. Cabrera broke for home on contact and Rodriguez fielded the ball cleanly and fired home to catcher Francisco Cervelli who dropped the ball while attempting to tag out Cabrera allowing the first run to score.
Two batters later the Yankees botched a potential double play ball that would have ended the inning. Shortstop Jeter ranged to his left to field a Jhonny Peralta grounder and flipped to Robinson Cano who stepped over second base while trying to make the force out. Peralta then beat out the relay throw leaving the bases loaded with one out.
Matt LaPorta followed with a sacrifice fly to score Choo. LaPorta was the Indians offensive hero of the night, going 2-3 with a double. He also drove in a run in the Indians two-run seventh inning.
Sabathia (13-4) took the loss for New York, his first loss since May 23. He pitched seven innings, allowing nine hits while striking out five and walking three. Sabathia is now 1-1 versus his former team since joining the Yankees in 2009.
Chris Perez came on in the ninth to record his 10th save of the season but the night belonged to Tomlin.
When asked how he felt about his first Major League start, Tomlin replied.
"I'm pretty excited. This is awesome. I was able to keep my emotions in check and come up here and help my team get a win."
There were 27, 416 fans in attendance at Progressive Field to see Cleveland improve its record to 42-58.
Game three of the four-game series will be Wednesday at 7:05 pm when Fausto Carmona (10-7, 3.51) takes the mound against New York's A.J. Burnett (8-8, 4.77)
