SABATHIA STIFLES RANGERS
CG 1-Hit Shutout
CLEVELAND, May 4 (AP) - C.C. Sabathia fired a complete game one-hitter and the
Cleveland Indians shut out the Texas Rangers, 3-0, at Jacobs Field. The
only Texas hit of the day was Ruben Sierra's one-out single in the second
inning. Sierra advanced to second one out later when Mark Texeira drew a
walk, but was stranded. Sierra was the only Texas runner to advance past
first base.
Cleveland did all of its damage early in this one, off Rangers starter John
Thomson. Karim Garcia led off the bottom of the second inning with a
single and, after Shane Spencer flied out to right, scored when Josh Bard
tripled off the wall in right-center field. One out later, Casey Blake
doubled to left-center field, giving the Indians a 2-0 lead.
A two-out rally in the bottom of the third capped the scoring. Ellis Burks
got things started by grounding a single up the middle and moved to second when
Garcia drew a base on balls. Spencer's single to right drove home Burks
with the third run of the game. Bard walked to load the bases but Thomson
escaped further damage by retiring Bill Selby on an inning-ending fielder's
choice.
From that point on, Thomson pitched quite well, shutting Cleveland out for four
innings before being removed after the seventh.
Sabathia, for his part, simply dominated Texas. After the two baserunners
in the second, Donnie Sadler reached base on Blake's error to lead off the
third, but Sabathia retired the next eight Rangers hitters. Sadler drew a
two-out walk in the fifth, but again Sabathia stymied Texas, setting down
another seven batters in a row until he issued a free pass to Einar Diaz leading
off the eighth. He then set down the final six Texas hitters of the game
to complete the shutout.
The one-hitter was the third of the season to date in the major leagues, all of
them in the American League, the first two by members of the Seattle Mariners
rotation. Remarkably, the Rangers have been the victims all three
times. Freddy Garcia tossed a 1-hit shutout on April 6 in Arlington and
Jamie Moyer turned the trick at Safeco Field on April 13.
5/4/2003, Tex03-Cle03, Jacobs Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Rangers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 1 2003 Indians 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 x 3 8 1 6 0 Rangers AB R H BI AVG Indians AB R H BI AVG Young,M 2b 4 0 0 0 .272 Lawton lf 4 0 1 0 .194 Everett,C rf 4 0 0 0 .273 Vizquel ss 4 0 0 0 .222 Rodriguez,A ss 4 0 0 0 .297 Burks dh 4 1 1 0 .245 Gonzalez,Ju dh 4 0 0 0 .273 Garcia,K cf 2 1 1 0 .213 Sierra lf 4 0 1 0 .329 Spencer rf 3 0 1 1 .241 Christenson cf 3 0 0 0 .157 Gerut ph 1 0 0 0 .250 Teixeira 1b 2 0 0 0 .277 Bard c 3 1 1 1 .302 Diaz,E c 2 0 0 0 .333 Selby 3b 3 0 1 0 .048 Sadler,D 3b 2 0 0 0 .333 Blake 1b 3 0 2 1 .301 29 0 1 0 Phillips,B 2b 3 0 0 0 .187 30 3 8 3 Rangers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Thomson L 2-5 7.0 8 3 3 2 5 100 66 6.75 Powell,J 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 13 6 4.66 8.0 8 3 3 3 5 113 72 Indians INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Sabathia W 4-1 9.0 1 0 0 3 8 133 85 1.54 9.0 1 0 0 3 8 133 85 Cle: Gerut batted for Spencer in the 8th Gerut moved to rf in the 9th E-Selby. 2B-Lawton(5), Blake(6). 3B-Bard(2). RBI-Spencer(9), Bard(13), Blake(17). CS-Vizquel. K-Young,M, Everett,C 2, Rodriguez,A 2, Gonzalez,Ju, Sierra, Christenson, Lawton, Vizquel, Burks 2, Bard. BB-Teixeira, Diaz,E, Sadler,D, Garcia,K 2, Bard. WP-Thomson. GWRBI: Bard Temperature: 59, Sky: clear, Wind: in from left at 1 MPH. Attendance: 27,036 Game Time: 2:28