Game 35: Yankees lose 3-0

Cliff Lee pitched to his season numbers and Chien-Ming Wang didn't have his best stuff. The Yankees' offense was also inconsistent in their 3-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.

Lee (6-0), who came into the game with a 5-0 record and a sub-1 ERA, pitched seven shutout innings, striking out seven and allowing six hits.

Wang (6-1) struggled with control issues and received his first loss of the season.

The Indians got on the scoreboard early in the first inning. Grady Sizemore led off with a walk and then moved to second on a Ben Francisco single. David Dellucci followed with a bloop to right field that fell in front of Bobby Abreu. Abreu alertly threw to second to force out Francisco while Sizemore advanced to third. Sizemore scored on a Victor Martinez sacrifice fly to right field.

The score remained 1-0 until the fourth inning. With a runner on second with two outs, Casey Blake hit an RBI to double the Indians' lead. The Indians would score again in the fifth inning on a Dellucci RBI single.

That was all that Lee would need. The best scoring chance the Yankees had was in the sixth inning. Abreu singled with two outs and then Shelley Duncan doubled. However, Hideki Matsui struck out to end the threat.

Wang wasn't awful by any means. He gave the team seven innings and allowed three earned runs while walking three and striking out four. It was simply a matter of Lee being better this night.

After sweeping the Mariners, the Yankees have lost two straight to the Indians and have clinched a losing homestand. Mike Mussina will try to salvage the three-game series tomorrow afternoon. Paul Byrd will take the hill for Cleveland.

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)