MULDER, A'S OUTDUEL SABATHIA, TRIBE
Foulke Extinguishes 9th Inning Threat
CLEVELAND, May 16 (AP) - A match-up of two of the top performing starters in the
American League lived up to its billing as Mark Mulder and the Oakland Athletics
eked past C.C. Sabathia and the Cleveland Indians, 1-0, in an old-fashioned
pitchers' duel at Jacobs Field. The game's only run was, fittingly,
unearned, and came in the top of the very first inning.
Mark Ellis led off the ball game by reaching on a two-base throwing error
committed by Cleveland shortstop Omar Vizquel and advanced to third when Scott
Hatteberg rolled out to second baseman Brandon Phillips. Ellis scored when
Eric Chavez grounded out to third.
Sabathia held the A's hitless until Erubiel Durzao singled to left leading off
the fifth inning. It was one of only two hits Oakland managed off Sabathia
in 8 1/3 innings of work; Ron Gant's base hit leading off the sixth was the
other. After Ellis scored in the first, the A's never had another strong
scoring threat in the game. Durazo was stranded on first; Gant advanced to
second on Ellis' sacrifice and took third with two outs when Hatteberg grounded
to first, but was left stranded when Chavez grounded to short to end the
inning. Durzao reached with one out in the seventh on a two-base error
charged to third baseman Casey Blake, but advanced no farther. Miguel
Tejada's one-out single in the ninth off reliever Jason Boyd was Oakland's final
baserunner of the game. Tejada took second with two outs on a ground out,
but was still there when the inning ended.
Cleveland, meanwhile, had some better chances. The Indians had runners at
second and third with two outs in the bottom of the first but Mulder struck out
Shane Spencer to end the inning. Spencer came up short during another
two-out threat in the fourth; with runners at first and second he grounded out
to close the frame. Double play grounders off the bats of Jody Gerut and
Ellis Burks put the end to potential rallies in the seventh and eighth innings
respectively.
But the best chance of the game for Cleveland came in the bottom of the
ninth. With Mulder still on the mound, Milton Bradley led off the inning
by reaching on a grounder that ricocheted off Mulder for an infield hit.
Spencer hit into a fielder's choice, forcing Bradley at second for the first
out. But Josh Bard slashed a double off the glove of the diving Chavez at
third, leaving runners at second and third. A's manager Ken Macha summoned
closer Keith Foulke from the bullpen to replace Mulder with Blake due up.
Foulke induced Blake to hit a high fly to shallow center field that Eric Byrnes
caught, with Spencer forced to hold at third. Phillips was due up but
Indians manager Eric Wedge summoned Bill Selby to pinch hit. Foulke struck
Selby out to end the game and secure his 15th save of the season.
5/16/2003, Oak03-Cle03, Jacobs Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Athletics 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 2 5 2 2003 Indians 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2 9 0 Athletics AB R H BI AVG Indians AB R H BI AVG Ellis,M 2b 3 1 0 0 .265 Lawton lf 4 0 0 0 .228 Hatteberg 1b 4 0 0 0 .240 Vizquel ss 3 0 1 0 .253 Chavez,Er 3b 4 0 0 1 .276 Burks dh 3 0 1 0 .252 Tejada ss 4 0 1 0 .357 Bradley cf 3 0 2 0 .298 Durazo dh 4 0 1 0 .300 Spencer 1b 4 0 0 0 .239 Hernandez,Ra c 4 0 0 0 .260 Bard c 4 0 1 0 .296 Byrnes cf 2 0 0 0 .303 Blake 3b 4 0 1 0 .291 Long rf 3 0 0 0 .245 Gerut rf 3 0 0 0 .340 Gant lf 3 0 1 0 .147 Phillips,B 2b 3 0 0 0 .202 31 1 3 1 Selby ph 1 0 0 0 .033 32 0 6 0 Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Mulder W 4-3 8.1 6 0 0 3 6 109 71 1.88 Foulke S 15 0.2 0 0 0 1 1 15 8 5.12 9.0 6 0 0 4 7 124 79 Indians INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Sabathia L 4-3 8.1 2 1 0 1 5 113 70 1.72 Boyd 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 4 4 4.91 9.0 3 1 0 1 5 117 74 Cle: Selby batted for Phillips,B in the 9th E-Tejada, Byrnes, Vizquel, Blake. 2B-Bard(7). RBI-Chavez,Er(31). K-Hernandez,Ra 3, Long 2, Lawton, Vizquel, Bradley, Spencer, Gerut, Phillips,B, Selby. BB-Byrnes, Vizquel, Burks, Bradley, Gerut. SH-Ellis,M. GWRBI: Chavez,Er Temperature: 73, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: in from left at 16 MPH. Attendance: 26,769 Game Time: 2:43