STEVE GOLDMAN
Star Beacon
May 11, 2008 12:41 am
—
CLEVELAND — With the help of another six-run rally, the Indians won in a “Laffer” on Saturday night.
Southpaw Aaron Laffey hurled seven shutout innings for his first win of the year. The offense gave him immediate support with a six-run first inning, marking the second night in a row it had put together an uprising that large, as the Tribe cruised to a 12-0 win over visiting Toronto.
Grady Sizemore was the standout among the many productive offensive performers. Sizemore clubbed two homers, both on full counts and to right-center -- one against starter Dustin McGowan to open the first and one with two men on off Jason Frasor in the fifth -- and added an RBI double in the fourth. He batted in five runs for the second time in his career, and scored three.
“We (were shut down) early (on Friday), but we bounced back and had a big inning,” Sizemore said. “Today, we got it going early, and we were able to add on (later). If we can carry that through the rest of the series, that would be (nice).”
Laffey (1-2, 1.83 ERA), who had performed well in his prior two starts with nothing to show for it, received far more than enough support this time, as the hitters pounded McGowan (2-3, 4.47) for nine runs. Meanwhile, he held the Blue Jays scoreless on six hits -- only two coming in the first six innings -- and a walk. He didn't allow a run in the third despite a leadoff double by Marco Scutaro. He also didn't allow one in the seventh despite giving up four hits. Contributing to that were a double-play grounder, two rocket throws by right fielder Ben Francisco that held runners, and a diving backhanded grab of a Jorge Velandia liner by shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera.
It was one of multiple fine plays turned in by Cabrera on the evening.
“(Laffey) threw the ball well,” manager Eric Wedge said. “When you talk about a young pitcher going out there and trusting his stuff, in your ordinary situation it's difficult enough, but in that type of game, he really had to focus and concentrate and still pitch his game. And that's what he did.”
“After a couple of long innings (because our offense was scoring), I kept going downstairs and grabbing one of the balls and throwing it against the wall to stay loose,” Laffey said.
Cleveland evened its record at 18-18, while the Blue Jays slipped to 17-21. The Tribe holds a 2-0 lead in the four-game series.
After Sizemore got things going, Jamey Carroll followed with a single to right. McGowan then walked David Dellucci. Victor Martinez (3 RBI) singled down the right-field line, scoring Carroll and sending Dellucci to third, and when Brad Wilkerson had trouble coming up with the ball, Martinez went to second.
Francisco's sacrifice fly made it 3-0. Travis Hafner was then hit by a pitch, and the runners moved up on a groundout.
Cabrera followed by slicing a hit to left to bring home two more.He took second on the throw, and scored when Casey Blake singled to right.
After Sizemore hit his double, Martinez's two-run single finished McGowan in the fourth.
“It was a good night,” Wedge said. “I think the guys did a good job putting some good (at-bats) together. Grady got us going; he had a great night. But up and down the lineup there were quite a few guys who put up good ABs.”
Craig Breslow finished up for Cleveland for a combined nine-hit shutout.
Jesse Carlson, Shawn Camp and Brian Tallet also appeared for Toronto.
Goldman is a freelance writer from South Euclid.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
Photos
Star Beacon