TRIBE OUTLASTS PADS IN PITCHERS DUEL
Bard's Walk-Off Hit Nets Westbrook's 8th 'W'
CLEVELAND, June 11 (AP) - Josh Bard's walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th
inning secured Cleveland's fourth consecutive victory, 1-0, over the San Diego
Padres at Jacobs Field. The contest was the first scoreless game in the
major leagues thus far this season to reach extra innings.
Both starters--Adam Eaton for the Padres and C.C. Sabathia for the
Indians--received no-decisions. Eaton struggled with his control
throughout, walking five batters, but still managed to post zeroes into the
sixth inning. In the bottom of the fourth, Milton Bradley drew a lead-off
walk and was singled to second by Matt Lawton, but Eaton escaped damage by
inducing a double play grounder off the bat of Ben Broussard and then striking
out Casey Blake. In the sixth, Bradley singled to center with one out and
Lawton drew a base on balls. At that point, Padres manager Bruce Bochy
replaced Eaton with lefty Mike Matthews who retired Broussard and Blake on
infield grounders to end the threat.
The Padres never managed to get a runner past second base against Sabathia.
Two-out singles by Rondell White and Ryan Klesko in the first netted nothing
when Brian Buchanan flied to left to end the inning. Gary Bennett and Sean
Burroughs slugged two-out doubles in the second and fourth innings respectively
but were left stranded.
The best scoring chance of the game until the bottom of the 11th came in the
Cleveland half of the eighth inning. Facing San Diego reliever Luther
Hackman, Jody Gerut doubled to right-center with one out and Bradley followed by
drawing a walk. Lawton flied to Xavier Nady in right for the second out,
but Gerut advanced to third. Hackman issued an intentional walk to
Broussard, loading the bases, but Blake flied out to end the frame.
Sabathia was lifted after nine innings, having retired every batter he faced
after Burroughs' fourth inning double--16 consecutive hitters in all--having
shut out the Padres on just four hits and a walk while striking out 10. He
was replaced to start the 10th inning by Westbrook who retired San Diego in
order. Scott Linebrink did the same for San Diego in the bottom half of
the inning.
After Westbrook retired the Padres 1-2-3 in the top of the 11th--extending San
Diego's offensive futility streak to 22 consecutive hitters retired--Jay
Witasick entered the game for the Padres in the bottom half. He walked
Lawton to open the inning, and the Indians left fielder promptly stole second
base. Witasick then walked Broussard. Blake dropped down a perfect
sacrifice bunt, advancing the runners to second and third. The Padres met
on the mound to discuss the options. Given the trouble Witasick had
already demonstrated throwing strikes and with switch hitter Josh Bard at the
plate, they decided to bring the infield in, rather than walking the bases
loaded to face Brandon Phillips, who was 2-for-3 with a walk already in the
contest. But Bard came through, slashing a sharp grounder through the hole
on the left side of the infield, scoring Lawton to win the game for Cleveland.
The 22 consecutive batters retired by the Cleveland staff is the fourth longest
such single-game streak in the major leagues this season.
6/11/2003, SD03-Cle03, Jacobs Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E LOB DP 2003 Padres 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 5 2 2003 Indians 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 8 0 12 0 Padres AB R H BI AVG Indians AB R H BI AVG Matthews,G cf 5 0 0 0 .188 Crisp dh 5 0 1 0 .222 Loretta 2b 4 0 0 0 .278 Vizquel ss 4 0 0 0 .230 White,Ro lf 4 0 1 0 .303 Gerut rf 5 0 2 0 .346 Klesko 1b 4 0 1 0 .240 Bradley cf 3 0 1 0 .346 Buchanan dh 4 0 0 0 .289 Lawton lf 2 1 1 0 .238 Nady rf 4 0 0 0 .292 Broussard 1b 3 0 0 0 .289 Burroughs 3b 4 0 1 0 .276 Blake 3b 4 0 0 0 .285 Bennett c 4 0 1 0 .189 Bard c 5 0 1 1 .307 Mendez,D ss 4 0 0 0 .167 Phillips,B 2b 3 0 2 0 .211 37 0 4 0 34 1 8 1 Padres INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Eaton 5.1 5 0 0 5 6 106 69 4.88 Matthews,M 1.1 0 0 0 0 0 20 9 3.96 Hackman 1.1 1 0 0 2 0 22 9 4.58 Linebrink 2.0 1 0 0 0 1 24 15 7.97 Witasick L 0-1 0.1 1 1 1 2 0 16 8 6.75 10.1 8 1 1 9 7 188 110 Indians INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Sabathia 9.0 4 0 0 1 10 117 77 1.88 Westbrook W 8-1 2.0 0 0 0 0 1 25 17 3.43 11.0 4 0 0 1 11 142 94 2B-Burroughs(7), Bennett(6), Gerut(12), Phillips,B(7). RBI-Bard(28). SB-Lawton(4), Phillips,B(2). CS-Crisp, Phillips,B. K-Matthews,G 2, Loretta 2, White,Ro 2, Klesko, Buchanan, Burroughs 2, Mendez,D, Crisp, Vizquel 2, Bradley, Broussard, Blake, Bard. BB-Loretta, Vizquel, Bradley 2, Lawton 3, Broussard 2, Phillips,B. SH-Blake. GWRBI: Bard Temperature: 83, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 4 MPH. Attendance: 19,043 Game Time: 3:21