THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Pitcher C.C. Sabathia hit a tape-measure home run and struck out 10, highlighting the Cleveland Indians’ 7-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in 11 innings Saturday.
Jamey Carroll opened a six-run 11th with a single and capped the burst with a sacrifice fly.
Sabathia enhanced his reputation on the mound and at the plate in the interleague game at Dodger Stadium. The reigning AL Cy Young winner launched a home run estimated at 440 feet and improved to 12-for-40 (.300) lifetime as a hitter. He has two career homers and seven RBIs.
Sabathia allowed one run and five hits over seven innings, and improved his league-leading strikeout total to 107.
The big lefty took a three-hitter and a 1-0 lead into the sixth before Matt Kemp hit his seventh home run of the season.
With NL rules in effect, Sabathia wasted little time in his first plate appearance of the season. He drove a 1-0 pitch from Chan Ho Park into the lower seats in the right-field corner leading off the third, drawing a collective gasp from the crowd of 45,036.
The six-foot-seven, 290-pound Sabathia did a slow trot around the bases in the 95-degree heat. His other home run came in 2005 against Elizardo Ramirez at Cincinnati.
With the score 1-all, Carroll and Ben Francisco opened the 11th with singles against Cory Wade (0-1). Jhonny Peralta, whose two-run double in the 10th Friday night gave the Indians a 6-4 win, hit a go-ahead single off Scott Proctor.
Casey Blake hit an RBI single, Kelly Shoppach added a two-run single and Grady Sizemore singled home another run.
Masahide Kobayashi (4-3) pitched a perfect 10th inning for the victory and Scott Elarton finished up, allowing an RBI double by James Loney.
Park allowed one run, three hits and a walk in five innings and struck out nine in his first career appearance against Cleveland. The Indians were the only team he had not faced since making his big league debut with the Dodgers in 1994.
The right-hander, who has been pitching mostly in relief during his second stint with Los Angeles, made his second start of the season while filling in for the injured Hiroki Kuroda (right shoulder tendinitis).
On May 17, Park got a no-decision against the Angels down in Anaheim, allowing two runs and three hits over four innings in the Dodgers’ 6-3 victory.
Notes: Sabathia’s homer was the first by a visiting pitcher at Dodger Stadium since July 26, 2006, when San Diego’s Jake Peavy connected off Brad Penny . . . Dodgers SS Angel Berroa singled in three at-bats against Sabathia and is 4-for-40 lifetime against him . . . The Dodgers and Indians were scheduled to meet in the 1993 Hall of Fame game at Cooperstown, but the game was rained out . . . The Tampa Bay Rays are the only team that hasn’t played at Chavez Ravine, although the Dodgers played a pair of interleague series at St. Petersburg, Fla., in 2002 and 2007 . . . Sabathia needs five more wins to join Addie Joss (1902-09) as the only Indians pitchers to reach double digits in victories in each of their first eight seasons with the club.
