No Birthday Present For A-Rod, Still Stuck At 599; Indians Down Yanks 4-1

Cleveland, OH (Sports Network) - Josh Tomlin pitched into the eighth inning in his major league debut and Matt LaPorta provided enough support with two RBI, as Cleveland downed the Yankees, 4-1, in the continuation of a four-game series from Progressive Field.

Tomlin (1-0), who was filling in for the injured Aaron Laffey, baffled the Bombers over seven-plus innings. He scattered three hits and did not walk a batter while striking out two.

"Outstanding effort by the kid," said Indians manager Manny Acta. "He's not going to be intimidated. He showed tremendous poise out there."

The young right-hander was charged with a run in the eighth after giving way to Cleveland's bullpen, but got the better of former Indians ace CC Sabathia (13-4), who gave up four runs (two earned) on nine hits and three walks in seven innings.

Sabathia lost for the first time in more than two months and was seeking his 150th career victory. The All-Star lefty had come out on top in each of his previous nine decisions and was unbeaten in 11 straight starts since falling to the Mets on May 23.

Alex Rodriguez again failed to deliver career home run No. 600 -- and on his 35th birthday. He finished 0-for-4 and has now gone without a homer in five games since hitting No. 599 versus Kansas City last Thursday.

The three-time American League MVP bounced out to short in his final at-bat with two out in the ninth representing the tying run. Chris Perez picked up his 10th save as a result as New York was dealt only its second defeat in the last seven games.

Tomlin faced the minimum amount of batters through six innings, as Derek Jeter erased a leadoff single in the fourth by getting caught stealing on a perfect throw to second from Chris Gimenez.

Meanwhile, the Tribe built up a 4-0 lead, thanks in part to a pair of errors on Francisco Cervelli and Robinson Cano.

Asdrubal Cabrera led off the fourth with a base hit and Shin-Soo Choo doubled to leave both in scoring position. Austin Kearns grounded to third and Rodriguez came home with the throw, but Cervelli missed it to allow one run to score.

Jhonny Peralta grounded to short with one out, but Cano dropped the relay toss from Jeter to load the bases and LaPorta lifted a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 edge.

Two innings later, Kearns tripled to deep center on a ball briefly bobbled by Curtis Granderson and Peralta walked ahead of an RBI double from LaPorta. Jason Donald was given a free pass to load the bases and set up a force play, but Sabathia walked Gimenez to force in a run. Trevor Crowe hit into an inning-ending double play to limit the damage.

In the seventh, Nick Swisher doubled with one out, but Tomlin quickly retired Mark Teixeira on a grounder to short and Rodriguez hit a deep fly to right that was caught just short of the warning track.

Cano doubled into the right-field corner leading off the eighth and Rafael Perez was called on to relieve Tomlin.

Perez got the second out but also moved Cano to third with a wild pitch. Marcus Thames was announced as a pinch-hitter and Indians skipper Manny Acta countered with Joe Smith. New York then sent out Colin Curtis to pinch-hit and he chased home Cano with a groundout to first.

Chris Perez took to the bump to begin the ninth and put runners at the corners with nobody out following base hits by Brett Gardner and Jeter. Swisher was caught waving at a slider in the dirt and Teixeira popped out to shallow center to set up a dramatic finish as Rodriguez stepped to the plate. He hit into a force play at second to end the game.

Tomlin was recalled from Triple-A Columbus Tuesday after going 8-4 with a 2.68 earned run average in 20 games -- 17 starts -- for the Clippers this season. To make room on the 25-man roster, Cleveland optioned outfielder Michael Brantley to Columbus. The Indians also designated minor league infielder Wes Hodges for assignment. Laffey was placed on the disabled list last week due to a fatigued left shoulder...Yankee backstop Jorge Posada was originally scheduled to be in the starting lineup and catch Sabathia, but was scratched with soreness in his left knee...Choo collected three hits for Cleveland, while Jeter had the lone multi-hit effort for New York...Sabathia struck out five batters.