CLEVELAND — Fausto Carmona has given the Indians an opportunity to win nearly every time he has taken the mound this season.

Wednesday night, how­ever, the right-hander ensured there was no chance for victory.

Bombed early and often, Carmona produced his worst effort of the year to pave the way for an 8-0 loss to the Yankees, who for the third straight night were deprived of celebrat­ing Alex Rodriguez’s 600th home run.

Rodriguez reached base for the first time in the series, going 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI.

Lasting a season-low 2 2/3 innings, Carmona was roasted for seven runs on 10 hits, losing for the first time since July 4 to snap a personal three-game win­ning streak.

“Fausto just didn’t have it today,” said Cleveland manager Manny Acta. “For some reason every­thing was hard. There wasn’t much difference between his fastball and change-up. His sinker was up and his secondary pitches weren’t very effec­tive.

“That’s the wrong lineup not to have your pitches working for you.”

More photos below.

Carmona allowed four runs over the first two innings, then fell apart in the third, surrendering three more before being merci­fully removed. He allowed four of the first five hitters to reach base in the third — two doubles (Robinson Cano and Brett Garnder), a triple (Curtis Granderson) and a hit batter (Francisco Cervelli).

“I tried to throw strikes,” Carmona said. “I was up a little bit and allowed a lot of base hits. I don’t know what happened. Sometimes I threw my change-up too hard. It was almost like my fastball.”

Though he was facing the best team in baseball (64-36), Carmona said it had nothing to do with his poor performance.

“I don’t care if it’s the Yankees, but I might have had a little too much energy,” Carmona said. “I tried to slow down but I couldn’t.”

New York scored all of its runs over the first four innings. As evidenced by the final score, pitching wasn’t a problem for the Yankees.

Starter A.J. Burnett, who entered the night with mediocre numbers — 8-8, 4.77 ERA — worked one of his best outings of the year, shutting out Cleveland on seven hits while striking out seven over 6 1/3 innings. The Indians had runners aboard in every inning that Burnett worked but never made the right-hander pay.

“We had some traffic out there,” Acta said, “but it seemed like every time we got something going, A.J. stepped it up and made big pitches. He had that electric fastball.”

The Indians’ best chance to score arrived in their last atbat. Travis Hafner led off with a walk, then moved to second when Austin Kearns walked.

Both runners stayed put after Matt LaPorta and Andy Marte flew out against Sergio Mitre and Jason Donald struck out to end the game.

Hafner and Trevor Crowe accounted for five of Cleveland’s eight hits. Crowe went 3for-4 with three singles, while Hafner reached base in three of his four trips to the plate, walking once and delivering singles in his last two at-bats.

Crowe is batting .347 (17-for-49) with four doubles, a triple, a home run and six RBIs over his last 14 games. Hafner is hitting .378 (17-for-45) with three doubles, a homer and four RBIs over his last 13 games.

The start of the game was delayed 42 minutes by rain. It ended with the Indians being shut out for an American League-high ninth time.

Tonight

• Who: Cleveland vs. N.Y. Yankees
• Time: 7:05
• Where: Progressive Field
• Pitchers: Talbot (8-9, 4.08 ERA) vs. Moseley (0-0, 4.22)
• TV/radio: Channel 3, STO; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

CLEVELAND — Kerry Wood (blister right index finger) will make a minor league rehab appearance for Double-A Akron tonight. If things go well, the right-hander’s next step will be to rejoin the Indians bullpen.

“We’re still going to have to see after the outing in Akron how the finger reacts,” said manager Manny Acta. “He’s going to be activated in Toronto (Friday-Sunday) if everything is OK.”

“I’m not going to put the cart before the horse, but (today) is the next step,” said Wood, who is expected to pitch one inning for the Aeros. “It’s tough with anything on your hand or arm. If it was a blister on my toe, it would be all right. It’s hard deal­ing with it but it is what it is.”

Though Acta said he would pitch Wood in non-save situa­tions for a spell upon activation from the injured list, the man­ager said Wood is still the closer. “We haven’t got that far yet,” Wood said.

Right-hander Chris Perez, Cleveland’s closer in waiting, has bounced back and forth between the closer and setup role, posting a 2.23 ERA in 42 games, while converting 10 of his 13 save opportunities (five straight).

“He’s done a good job han­dling it,” Acta said. “He’s a bright kid. He understands you can blow the game in the eighth (inning) too. It’s pretty much crunch time in both innings.”

Perez has not allowed a run in 11 1 / 3 innings (12 games), a season-high consecutive innings scoreless streak by an Indians pitcher.

“I’m very confident right now,” Perez said. “I know, as long as I throw strikes, I have a great chance to be successful.”

Reyes roundup

Right-hander Anthony Reyes took another stride to returning from Tommy John surgery Tuesday, pitching three shutout innings, while allowing one hit and striking out one in three innings of Akron’s 4-0 win over Bowie.

It was Reyes’ third rehab outing after making two for Cleveland’s Arizona League team.

“He’s feeling good and upbeat,” Acta said. “It’s the next step.

Hopefully things continue to progress this way.”

When Reyes is ready, Acta said he would join the Indians as a September call-up or before.

Tomlin’s time

Josh Tomlin made a brilliant big league debut for the Indians on Tuesday, getting the win over the Yankees, while allowing just one earned run on three hits over seven innings.

He went to the mound with some advice from a member of the Indians’ Hall of Fame, Charles Nagy, who is the pitching coach at Triple-A Columbus.

“He just told me not to change anything,” Tomlin said. “He said, ‘Your stuff will get guys out just like it does here.’ I did (believe him).

He’s got a pretty good resume.”

Tomlin was relieved that he wasn’t the victim of Alex Rodriguez’s 600th home run. He retired Rodriguez all three times he faced him.

“I didn’t (think about it), but I was trying to make pitches so I wouldn’t be that guy,” Tomlin said.

Minor detail

RHP Connor Graham got the win in relief Tuesday after pitching two perfect innings for Akron in the win over Bowie. Since being converted to a reliever on May 19, Graham has posted a 2.37 ERA in 24 appearances. He was acquired last year in a trade with the Rockies for Rafael Betancourt.

Roundin’ third

• Tuesday’s win over the Yankees was Acta’s 200th career victory as a manager.
• According to Elias Sports Bureau, Tomlin is the second pitcher in Indians history to allow three or fewer baserunners over at least seven innings of his major league debut. Scott Lewis is the other, accomplishing as much in 2008 against the Orioles.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

CLEVELAND — It was the toughest of tests for Josh Tomlin, who faced the vaunted New York Yankees and their ace, former Indian CC Sabathia, in his major league debut Tuesday night at Progressive Field.

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He passed with flying colors.

Tomlin, an unheralded right-hander who was a surprise pick to replace an injured Aaron Laffey in the rotation, proved the Indians made the right choice, dealing Cleveland past New York 4-1 to even the four-game series at a win apiece.

Looking like a crafty veteran rather than an unproven rookie, Tomlin held the powerful Yanks in check for the duration of his seven-inning outing, allowing just a run on three hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out two.

In the process, he and the Indians made national news by preventing Alex Rodriguez from hitting his 600th home run. Rodriguez went hitless in three at-bats off Tomlin and one against Chris Perez, going 0-for-8 over the first two games of the series.

“It was an outstanding effort by the kid,” said Cleveland manager Manny Acta of Tomlin, who allowed his only run in the eighth inning after surrendering a leadoff double to Nick Swisher and being removed. “He pitched a great game and wasn’t going to be intimidated. The game didn’t speed up on him at all. He looked very comfortable.”

According to Tomlin, whose parents were in attendance, looks were understandably deceiving. He admitted to being nervous, but it was tough to tell and it didn’t last long.

More photos below.

“It took me a while to settle in but after that first inning I was more comfortable,” said Tomlin, who allowed just one hit over the first six innings. “I’m just going out there trying to throw strikes and make them put the ball in play.

“It was pretty exciting. It was awesome.”

Using all five of his pitches effectively, Tomlin stuck with the gameplan he brought to the mound, and New York’s hitters never figured him out.

“The second and third time around (the lineup) is tough because hitters make adjustments,” Acta said. “But when you can command and locate the way this kid did, you can adjust all you want.”

“I didn’t want them to think I was going to be nibbling all night,” Tomlin said. “I tried to go right after them and throw strikes.”

It was the second time in less than two weeks that the Indians got a win from a pitcher making his major league debut. Jeanmar Gomez beat the Tigers in his first big league start on July 18.

It is the first time Cleveland has got two wins from pitchers making their debut since 1922 – Dewey Metivier and Phil Bedgood.

The victory was enhanced not just by beating the Yankees, but by beating Sabathia, who pitched for Cleveland from 2001-08 and won the Cy Young award with the Indians in ’07.

Sabathia had won nine straight decisions and had not lost since May 23, but his old team welcomed him rudely, scoring four runs (two earned) on nine hits over seven innings.

The Indians scored twice off Sabathia in the fourth inning, then added two more in the sixth, the last run coming when Sabathia walked No. 9 hitter Chris Gimenez with the bases loaded.

“Our guys put up some good at-bats against a tough pitcher,” Acta said.

Matt LaPorta, the key player acquired when the Indians traded Sabathia to Milwaukee during the 2008 season, drove in two runs off the large left-hander.

LaPorta said there was nothing special about facing Sabathia.

“He’s a great pitcher and he’s going out there trying to compete against me,” said LaPorta, who drove in Cleveland’s second run in the fourth with a sacrifice fly and the first run in the sixth with a double to left-center. “I’m going out there trying to compete against him.”

Though the Indians owned a three-run lead, there were still some anxious moments in the ninth, with the Yankees starting off the inning with hits from Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter against Perez. Jeter and Robinson Cano had the only hits off Tomlin.

Perez got stingy after that, striking out Swisher and getting Mark Teixeira to pop out, bringing Rodriguez to the plate for one more shot at history.

Perez threw two pitches to Rodriguez before the Yanks’ third baseman grounded into a fielder’s choice out to end the game.

“Don’t give it up. Don’t let No. 600 be a big one,” Perez said, when asked what he was thinking as Rodriguez came to the plate. “It was a big win for us. We beat the Yankees with their big gun CC on the mound. That makes it even sweeter because of the history he has here.”

Still, the night belonged to Tomlin.

“It looked like he was back in the minor leagues pitching a game, but it was a game against the Yankees,” Perez said.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.