CLEVELAND — There’s not much more right-hander Josh Tomlin can do to impress manager Manny Acta, but he gave it another try in his latest start Monday.

Starting pitcher Josh Tomlin pitches in the third inning Monday. (AP photo.)

Thanks to a seven-inning effort in a 6-3 victory over the Yankees, the 26-year-old Tomlin became the first pitcher since 1919 to pitch at least five innings in each of his first 29 career outings. He surpassed Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka, who accomplished the feat in his first 28 starts.

“It’s very impressive,” Acta said. “If you go way back when, that means there were a lot of guys before him that couldn’t do that. He just passed Matsuzaka. You heard all about the stuff that he had, and here comes this little cowboy from Texas and it’s money in the bank for five innings.”

Tomlin (10-4, 3.78 ERA) has been the picture of consistency, with the same approach — throwing strikes with all four of his pitches. He’s walked only 13 batters in 1092⁄3 innings, issuing his first free pass in four starts Monday.

“If he walks one, it surprises me,” Acta said. “If he walks more, I want to blame the umpire. He’s remarkable. He knows what his game is.

“I’m not saying he’s straight to Cooperstown, but I just don’t see a guy that can throw four pitches and locate them not having a career up here.”

Many of Tomlin’s starts have been carbon copies. He has allowed three runs or fewer in 13 of his 17 starts.

“It’s a piece of cake when he pitches,” Acta said. “I don’t have to worry about controlling the running game because he does that. You just let him go out there through the sixth and seventh innings and go to the bullpen when you need to.”

Wounded Wahoos

• Right-hander Alex White was at Progressive Field on Tuesday to have his surgically repaired right middle finger examined. White, Cleveland’s first-round draft pick in 2010, made three starts for the Indians before sustaining the injury. He has begun throwing but not from the mound. Acta said White would pitch again this season, provided he does not have a setback.
• An MRI performed on Fausto Carmona’s injured right quad revealed nothing serious, but the right-hander is on the 15-day disabled list. Triple-A Columbus’ Zach McAllister (8-3, 2.97 ERA) will be promoted for Carmona’s start Thursday against Toronto.
• Acta said he is leaning toward activating first baseman Matt LaPorta (right ankle sprain) from the disabled list, rather than send him on a minor league rehab assignment. LaPorta has been on the shelf since June 18.
• Right fielder Shin-Soo Choo (broken left thumb) is still on track to return in late August, according to Acta.
• Outfielder Travis Buck (hamstring) is expected to be available today. He hasn’t played since Friday.

Minor detail

• Former first-round draft pick (fifth overall) left-hander Drew Pomeranz, is 2-2 with a 2.06 ERA in 14 starts for High-A Kinston, striking out 88 batters in 70 innings.

Roundin’ third

• Tomlin is 12-2 in 15 career starts at Progressive Field. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Tomlin is just the second MLB pitcher that debuted in the expansion era to win 12 of his first 15 starts at home. He joined Lamar Hoyt, who accomplished the same for the White Sox at Comiskey Park from 1980-82.
• The last time the Indians entered the All-Star break in first place was 1999.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.

LORAIN — No fight or flight, no bite.

Police dogs learn it from training while most criminal suspects who encounter them know it instinctively.

Lorain police Officer Craig Payne, front, with Kriss, an 18-month-old German shepherd, and Officer Eric Alten, with Garp, a 2-year-old German shepherd, new members of the Lorain K-9 unit Tuesday at the Lorain Police Department. (CT photo by Steve Manheim.)

Like the domestic violence suspect fleeing rookie police dog Kriss and his handler Officer Craig Payne on June 28. Payne said the suspect was hiding behind a fence, so Payne threw Kriss over the fence. End of chase.

“Kriss did exactly as he was trained to do, which is do a circle and bark and hold the suspect at bay,” Payne said Tuesday. “It worked out perfect.”

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Like the snapping of a collapsible baton by an officer, the sight of a police dog can be intimidating and make even a rowdy drunk reconsider tangling with cops. Rookie police dog Garp’s appearance outside a bar where patrons were refusing to disperse also changed minds.

“I got him out of the car and just started walking along the roadway,” said Officer Eric Alten, Garp’s handler. “Within about a minute or two, everybody was gone.”

The ability of Garp and Kriss — two German shepherds from the Czech Republic who hit the streets a few weeks ago — to only bite on command is crucial. After some 30 years of using dogs, the department stopped using them in 2009 because they couldn’t be controlled, said Lt. Edward Super, a department supervisor who was bitten by one of the old dogs. The Belgian shepherd attacked a janitor in the department, causing serious injuries.

“Our old dogs used to be pretty mean,” Super said. “You couldn’t get near them.”

Garp, 2, and Kriss, 18 months, are more mellow. But it doesn’t mean they aren’t trained to attack on command.

“They have great drive to work,” said Dan Bowman, head of Columbus-based Gold Shield Canine Training, where the dogs received 400 hours and the handlers received 200 hours of training. “The handlers have an exceptional work ethic. They’re very dedicated to the program.”

Bowman, an ex-Camden, N.Y., police officer, said he has trained about 500 dogs since he became a dog trainer in 1981. Gold Shield has provided dogs to some 200 police departments in Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey.

Training, which is done on the streets of Columbus to better simulate real conditions, includes dealing with conflict, reacting to gunfire, drug detection and tracking. Garp and Kriss are cross trained to do drug detection and tracking.

Training also included Alten and Payne — who command their dogs in German — being attacked by Garp and Kriss while wearing protective clothing. “It was a real adrenaline dump,” Alten said.

Handlers take their dogs home and usually keep them after retirement, which is usually between the ages of 7 and 10 years old. Alten and Payne, both first-time handlers, said they grew up with dogs.

Payne, 32, said he became a handler because dogs are frequently used by police.

“You get to be involved in a multitude of calls,” said Payne who joined the force in 2005.

Alten, 27, said he became a handler because he was impressed by the cooperation he saw between handlers and their dogs after joining the force in 2007. Alten said he and Garp quickly bonded.

“Within the first week of having him I felt like I had another best friend,” he said. “The trust that they give to you and the loyalty, it’s just amazing.”

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

ELYRIA — City Council adopted the Cascade Park Redevelopment Plan, a 25-year master plan for the city’s first major park, on the same night that Mayor Bill Grace announced he is ready to accept it may be time to consider giving the park to another entity to operate.

Up until Tuesday, Grace had publicly denounced the idea of giving Cascade Park to someone else — the Lorain County Metro Parks being the most popular choice in the community. However, he now seems to be softening to the idea.

“It’s time for serious discussion about the future of the park,” he said. “Cascade Park needs millions, if not tens of millions, in improvement, and unless we are ready to start committing to that kind of investment, we need to seriously discuss turning the park over to another entity.”

Going to the taxpayers for money for the park does not seem a likely solution because repeated ballot initiatives in recent years have failed, he said.

“I’m disappointed we have not been able to rally the community support needed to preserve the park,” Grace said.

Grace stopped short of calling for a public meeting to discuss the future of Cascade Park, and Council members had little to say about the idea.

Councilman Larry Tanner, D-1st Ward, was the only Council member to offer an opinion and in doing so championed Grace for finally admitting the city can no longer adequately operate Cascade Park.

“You are 100 percent right,” Tanner said. “The Metro Parks is who we should turn Cascade Park over to, and I will do whatever it takes to make it possible.”

Tanner said Elyrians are dreaming if they think the city has $30 million to $40 million to invest in Cascade Park.

Talks about Cascade did not stop Council from accepting the donation of three parcels of land from longtime Elyrian Jack Smith for the creation of the Black River Audubon Park on West Bridge Street. The park would be just over an acre, but with its close proximity to the Black River, Smith hopes parkgoers will see it as a perfect place to sit and appreciate nature.

By accepting the property, the city agrees to Smith’s terms — that he name he requested for the park be used and the second requiring that if the city chooses not to develop a park, the land returns to his estate.

Community Development Director Angie Byington said the city’s Parks Board, which provides recommendations for the city’s park system, still has to meet to discuss what should be done with the park and maintenance plans.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

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.