CLEVELAND — CC Sabathia was a man on a mission in his return to Progressive Field on Tuesday night.

New York Yankees starter CC Sabathia pitches against the Cleveland Indians in the second inning Tuesday. (AP photo.)

Sabathia, pitching for just the third time at Progressive Field since the 2008 trade that sent him to Milwaukee for a bevy of prospects, showed the form that made him the 2007 American League Cy Young Award winner. He tossed seven innings of six-hit, shutout baseball as the New York Yankees defeated the Indians 9-2.

He struck out 11 hitters, the 25th time Sabathia (12-4) has reached double digits in strikeouts. In his previous start he fanned 13 Milwaukee Brewers. Over the last two starts he has thrown 14 2⁄3 innings without allowing a run.

“I had all of my pitches working tonight and my velocity was good,” Sabathia said. “I just wanted to stay loose and work up a good sweat because there were a couple of long innings in there.”

By beating up on his former team Sabathia may have been sending a message to Rangers manager Ron Washington, who will lead the American League All-Star team and played a role in its selection. Sabathia was snubbed for the Midsummer Classic despite being tied for the league lead in wins and tied for seventh in strikeouts when the All-Star selections were announced.

“I didn’t let it bother me,” Sabathia said. “I just try to go out there and pitch my best every game.”

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Sabathia didn’t seem to be upset when the selections came out and his name was not on the list.

“I haven’t heard him say anything about it. CC is a pretty mild-mannered guy, he doesn’t let a lot bother him,” Girardi said. “I’ve been in that situation (as a manager) where you have to choose that team and it is tough. In my mind, though, I know he is an All-Star.”

Since joining the Yankees as a free agent prior to the 2009 season, Sabathia has cemented his spot among the elite pitchers of his era. With a career record of 169-92, Sabathia — two weeks shy of his 31st birthday — has more wins at the age of 30 than Bert Blyleven (167), Greg Maddox (166) or Roger Clemens (161).

In fact, no pitcher in the past 30 years has won as many games at such a young age. He is also the first pitcher since Tom Seaver to win at least 11 games in each of his first 11 seasons in the majors.

“This is as good of a run as he has had with us,” Girardi said. “He was strong until the end tonight and I know I could have sent him back out for another inning, but that’s an inning we are going to need him down the road.”

Over his last 10 starts, Sabathia is 9-1. In six of those starts he has allowed one or no earned runs.

His name is all over the record books in Cleveland as well as in New York. Sabathia left the Indians ranked fifth all time in strikeouts with 1,265. In baseball’s expansion era, only Charles Nagy (129) and Sam McDowell (122) won more games in an Indians uniform than Sabathia with 106.

More surprising is the fact that Sabathia has the all-time best winning percentage (.742) of any pitcher in the star-studded history of the Bronx Bombers.

Sabathia’s professional career began in 1998 when the Indians made him their first-round selection in the amateur draft. Although his heart is now in New York, he still pays attention to what is happening in Cleveland.

“The Indians have a good team. I am impressed with what Mark (Shapiro) and Chris (Antonetti) have done turning this team over again since back in 2007-08,” Sabathia said of the former and current general managers.

However, Sabathia said he no longer feels any special emotions stepping on the Progressive Field mound.

“It’s just like going to any other city now. I’ve been coming back here for three years now,” he said.

For Sabathia it may have been just another stop on the 162-game marathon that is a Major League Baseball season. But for Indians fans it was more like a look at what once was and what could have been.

Contact Todd Shapiro at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

SHEFFIELD TWP. — An all-terrain vehicle rider was injured when he struck a tree stump around 6:25 p.m. Monday.

Teddy Barker, 27 or 28, was injured outside his family’s home in the 5300 block of Fleming Avenue by the intersection of Vincent Avenue across from the Vincent Elementary School at 2303 North Ridge Road. Barker told his family that the ATV flipped over on top of him after colliding with the stump. Jim Phillips, Barker’s stepfather, said Barker was flown to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland. He is listed in fair condition this morning.

Megan Stephens, Barker’s sister-in-law and Robin Christopher, Barker’s stepsister, said they ran to him after hearing a loud thump from the crash. Stephens said Barker complained of injuring his right leg and shoulder.

“He said it happened so fast he (didn’t) really know what happened,” Stephens said. “A boy walked over to us and said, ‘Hey, I just found your brother and I got the four-wheeler off of him, but he wrecked it.’ ”

The accident occurred just outside the fence of Phillips backyard on a strip of grass between the fence and Vincent Avenue. ATVs are illegal to ride on public property in Ohio except on land posted as permitting them or on private property unless permitted by the property owner.

Between 1982 and 2009, the latest year for which statistics are available, there were 10,281 deaths in ATV accidents nationally including 320 in Ohio, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Ohio had the 13th highest death rate in the nation.

Contact Evan Goodenow at 329-7129 or egoodenow@chroniclet.com.

ELYRIA — The Lorain County commissioners will hold three public meetings next month to discuss whether or not to ask voters to approve a sales tax hike in November.

The meetings will be held at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on July 13 and 10 a.m. on July 20.

The increase of the county’s 6.25 percent sales tax — the second lowest in the state — could come in a variety of forms, the commissioners said.
The increase could be for .25 percent or .5 percent and would be set aside solely to support the county’s general fund, similar to what the commissioners imposed two years ago that was ultimately rejected by voters.

Commissioner Tom Williams suggested increasing the sales tax by 0.5 percent while at the same time decreasing what property owners pay in property taxes. The reduction would come from what is known as inside millage, which is a property tax that voters have no say in.

Any sales tax increase would be temporary, according to the options the commissioners are considering. The original options were for five years, but Williams suggested another option of three years.

The county has struggled with dwindling revenue in recent years and the commissioners have made steep cuts, that included layoffs, to deal with their budget woes. Commissioner Ted Kalo said about half of the county’s estimated $52 million budget can’t be cut at the present time, either because of court orders, state law or the commissioners’ own commitment to avoid cuts to safety forces.

County Budget Director Lisa Hobart estimated the county’s budget deficit will be $6.2 million next year without an increase in revenue.

See Thursday’s Chronicle for more on this story.

Garrett Mitchell appears to be like any other 11-year-old boy. He’s a wrestler and a football player. Video games are his life.

There is one thing, however, that sets him apart from other boys his age. Mitchell is a published author.

Garrett, of Elyria, was born with a cleft lip and has undergone at least 10 different surgeries to correct his condition.

His experiences led him to write a book for children titled “Where’s Red?”

“My school has a young-author’s program that teaches us how to write our own stories,” Garrett said. “That’s where I got the idea to write about my own experience with cleft lip.”

The book is about a red crayon that has imperfections and stands out from all of the other crayons. The crayon is upset and broken. By the end of the book the red crayon realizes that despite his imperfections he is no less important than anyone else.

Cleft lip and palate are malformations that occur early in pregnancy. Clefting results when there is not enough tissue in the mouth or lip area, and the tissue that is available does not join together properly.

Cleveland Clinic plastic surgeon Dr. Francis Papay took bone marrow from Mitchell’s hip to fix his gums.

Papay has been Garrett’s surgeon his entire life.

“We are so grateful to Dr. Papay,” said JoEllen Mitchell, Garrett’s mother. “He’s been so wonderful to Garrett through all of his surgeries.”

Garrett wanted to thank Papay. After his book was published, Garrett took the book to Papay and presented it to him in person.

“Receiving this book was the greatest thank-you a surgeon can receive,” Papay said. “Garrett is such a bright boy and I’m so proud of him.”

Garrett was shocked at how popular his book became.

“I started out just wanting to write a book with my mom,” Mitchell said. “But before I knew it all of our friends and family were asking for copies of it!”

Garrett’s mom, JoEllen, drew all of the illustrations for the book.

“Creating this book together has been such a great experience for me and Garrett,” JoEllen said. “This is going to be something we can look back on proudly.”

Contact Christina Graw at 329-7144 or cgraw@chroniclet.com.