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CLEVELAND (AP) -
Asdrubal Cabrera
delivered a home run in the first game of a doubleheader Monday and the 14th unassisted triple play in major league history
in the nightcap.
The drive helped Cleveland win 3-0. The fielding gem wasn't enough to complete the sweep.
''It's a triple play but I'm not going to talk about it; we didn't win the game,'' Indians manager
Eric Wedge
said.
Shannon Stewart
hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning,
Aaron Hill
added a two-run single and the
Toronto Blue Jays
beat Cleveland 3-0 on Monday night to salvage a split of the doubleheader.
''It's nice to get one with nothing else going our way,'' Hill said after Toronto snapped a 31-inning scoreless streak and
won for just the second time in seven games.
The nightcap featured terrific pitching by Toronto's
Shaun Marcum
and Cleveland's
Cliff Lee
, who got a big assist from Cabrera in the fifth inning.
With
Kevin Mench
and
Marco Scutaro
on with singles and running on the 1-0 pitch, Cabrera made a diving backhand catch of a line drive by
Lyle Overbay
, touched second base to force Mench and then tagged out Scutaro.
The only miscue by the 22-year-old Cabrera was that he didn't keep the ball.
''He flipped it into the stands and right as he did cried out, 'Oh, no!' '' first-base coach
Luis Rivera
said, serving as the Venezuelan's interpreter.
''I knew it was pretty special,'' Cabrera said.
Colorado shortstop
Troy Tulowitzki
made the last unassisted triple play in the majors, on April 29, 2007, against Atlanta. Oakland second baseman
Randy Velarde
last turned the trick in the AL, on May 29, 2000, against the Yankees.
This was the record third unassisted triple play by a Cleveland fielder.
Indians shortstop
Neal Ball
made the first one in history, in 1909. Cleveland second baseman
Bill Wambsganss
turned the only one in the World Series, in 1920 during a Game 5 win over Brooklyn.
The Indians also have been victimized three such times. The last player to pull an unassisted triple play against them -
Ron Hansen
, in 1968 for Washington - is now an advance scout for Philadelphia and was at Progressive Field to see Cabrera's feat.
''That was pretty neat,'' said Lee, who pitched nine scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 0.67 but failed to improve on his
6-0 record. ''It doesn't matter now, though. The bottom line is we've got to win.''
Lee got even more defense in the top of the ninth from first baseman
Victor Martinez
and right fielder
Franklin Gutierrez
.
With one out and Stewart on second, Martinez, ordinarly a catcher, leaped to snare a line drive off the bat of
Alex Rios
. After an infield single by
Scott Rolen
sent Stewart to third, Mench lined an 0-2 pitch into the right-center gap. Gutierrez raced over and caught it with a dive
to keep it scoreless.
''We made multiple plays on defense, but didn't do anything on offense,'' Wedge said after Cleveland totaled eight hits in
the two games - just three in the second game.
''Our approach was about as poor if not the poorest I've seen all year,'' Wedge said. ''There's no excuse for it. Not to take
anything away from (Marcum), he's a fine pitcher, but we gave away at-bats all night.''
Fausto Carmona
(4-1) pitched a five-hitter and Cabrera hit a two-run homer in Cleveland's 3-0 victory in the first game.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time a team had both pitchers throw nine scoreless innings in a doubleheader
was Boston on Sept. 5, 1977, when
Don Aase
and
Reggie Cleveland
both won in Toronto.
Marcum allowed two hits in eight innings, striking out five without a walk to match Lee pitch-for-pitch. Lee yielded seven
hits, walked two and struck out five.
B.J. Ryan (1-0) worked a scoreless ninth for the win and
Scott Downs
pitched the 10th for his fourth save.
Matt Stairs
singled to open the Toronto 10th and took second on Overbay's infield single on a ball that glanced off
Rafael Betancourt
's left elbow and ricocheted into foul ground.
Betancourt (1-2) was examined by trainers and stayed in the game to face Gregg Zahn, who bunted over both runners. Pinch-hitter
Brad Wilkerson
was intentionally walked to load the bases for Stewart, whose flyball to center easily scored Stairs. Hill's single to center
made it 3-0.
Toronto snapped a four-game losing streak after Carmona struck out three and walked four in his second shutout and third complete
game in 47 big league starts.
''We know our starting pitching is extremely strong,'' said
David Dellucci
, whose two-out single in the sixth drove in the first run. ''The way Fausto was pitching, we knew it wouldn't take a lot.''
A.J. Burnett (3-4) gave up three runs and five hits in 7 2-3 innings for the
Blue Jays
. Burnett allowed only one hit until
Grady Sizemore
doubled off the wall in right-center with one out in the sixth. Sizemore went to third on a groundout by
Jamey Carroll
and scored on Dellucci's single.
''That's a big two-out knock in a zero-zero ballgame,'' Wedge said.
Travis Hafner
drew a leadoff walk in the seventh and Cabrera followed with his first homer since Sept. 17.
Notes: Toronto fell two innings short of their longest scoreless streak of 33 innings, May 12-16, 1981. That streak included
a perfect game by the Indians'
Len Barker
on May 15. ... Burnett dropped to 30-34 with a 4.31 ERA when starting with more than four days' rest. He's 42-36 with a 3.43
ERA when starting on normal rest. ... Stairs had three of Toronto's hits. ... Carmona fanned Hill three times for his only
strikeouts. ... Indians OF Shin-Soo Choo, recovering from elbow surgery last September, is expected to begin a rehab assignment
this week at Triple-A Buffalo. ... According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last team to have two pitchers go nine innings
in both ends of a doubleheader was the
Milwaukee Brewers
on Aug. 13, 1993.
Angel Miranda
and
Ricky Bones
each allowed one run in nine innings.
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