Indians Top O's in Tale of Two Left-Handers

Indians 7, Orioles 1

BALTIMORE, Sept. 10 -- One left-hander commanded his fastball with precision, worked ahead of hitters and later walked off the field with an immense sense of satisfaction. And the other?

"Just the opposite," Baltimore Orioles Manager Dave Trembley said.

Indeed, identifying the reason for the Orioles' 7-1 loss on Wednesday night was as easy as locating the pitcher's mound. Baltimore's Chris Waters fell to familiar struggles with control while Cleveland's Scott Lewis dominated in his major league debut.

"I never expected to do this well," said Lewis, who allowed just three hits and faced only two batters above the minimum during his eight scoreless innings. "I had hoped to get deep into the game and maybe only give up a few [runs]. I stayed pretty calm."

The Indians took a chance on Lewis in 2004, drafting him in the third round out of Ohio State, even though he had just undergone elbow ligament replacement surgery. He shined in the minors to become one of the Indians better pitching prospects even though he battled arm problems.

This season, Lewis was 8-4 with a 2.53 ERA between Class AA Akron and Class AAA Buffalo. After Lewis allowed just three runs against the Orioles' Class AA affiliate Bowie in the Eastern League playoffs, the Indians brought him to the majors, where he looked even sharper against the big league squad.

"I always stayed positive," Lewis said. "You can't get caught up in whether you are going to be hurt all of your career. I always had a vision in the back of my head and it came true. It was better than I had hoped."

Baltimore played with a starting lineup fit for September, with reserves Lou Montañez in left and Jay Payton in right, partly because Trembley rested Nick Markakis, along with Kevin Millar. The Orioles were also without run producer Melvin Mora, who missed another start with a lingering hamstring injury.

Still, Lewis appeared much too comfortable for a pitcher making his first big league start.

"I've never seen hitters look that bad against a young guy coming from Double A," Orioles shortstop Alex Cintrón said. "We were fouling a lot of pitches and we missed a lot. I was kind of surprised."

Meanwhile, the Indians staked Lewis to a comfortable lead, thanks in part to catcher Kelly Shoppach. In addition to guiding the 24-year-old Lewis through his start, Shoppach hit two solo homers.

"His command of the fastball was good and that's a big key to pitching," Shoppach said. "He pitched to both sides of the plate and was up and down in the zone. He may have pitched a few more offspeed pitches than he's used to, but he had command of those, too."

The Orioles trailed just 1-0 entering the fourth, and on the surface Waters appeared on track for a respectable effort. But Waters gave Indians hitters the advantage by falling behind in the count to nearly half of the batters he faced.

"Can't do it, point blank," said Waters, who allowed five runs in 5 2/3 innings. "If you don't get ahead of a hitter, you're in trouble."

Waters loaded the bases in the fourth before Asdrúbal Cabrera hammered the next pitch just inside the right field foul line. Cabrera's two-run double and Grady Sizemore's sacrifice fly put the Indians ahead 4-0.

Cleveland added another run in the fifth when Shoppach took Waters over the right field scoreboard. Trembley fetched Waters in the sixth after he allowed a pair of infield hits.

As different as they appeared on Wednesday, it wasn't too long ago that Waters could relate to Lewis. When Waters made his big league debut on Aug. 5, he pitched eight scoreless innings while one-hitting the Los Angeles Angels.

But since then, he's allowed 28 earned runs in 36 innings.

"I won't say it's easy to get here because it's not," Waters said. "But it's a lot harder to stay here."