Boston ? C.C. Sabathia walked calmly toward the dugout, his night cut short by a flurry of poorly placed pitches and hard-hit balls.

That solitary stroll was a rare moment of control for the Indians’ once-fiery ace.

Looking nothing like the Cy Young Award contender who won 19 games this season, Sabathia walked five while allowing eight runs and seven hits in 41â3 innings Friday night. The Indians never recovered, and the Red Sox rolled to a 10-3 victory in the opener of the AL championship series.

Sabathia did strike out the side in the second inning. But those were his only strikeouts.

“I felt good that second inning,” he said, but “I didn’t really stick with our plan and kind of got away from that and didn’t really challenge guys. I need to be more aggressive next time, go out and throw my fastball in the zone.”

Fausto Carmona, another Cy Young Award hopeful, tries to even it tonight for the Indians against Curt Schilling.

Round 1, though, went to Josh Beckett over Sabathia.

“When you’re talking about facing a team like Boston, you know they’re going to make you come in, they’re going to make you work for it,” Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. “They’re not going to chase. You’ve got to prove that you can be in the zone before they even think about expanding a little bit.”

The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the first on Travis Hafner’s homer off Beckett, another favorite for the AL Cy Young Award. Sabathia squandered it after facing just four batters – and nearly taking a liner to his head.

Dustin Pedroia hit that ball, and Sabathia got his glove up just in time to spear it for the first out. But then he gave up singles by Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, tying the game.

“I usually go out and pitch and have fun and enjoy it,” Sabathia said. “I was going out today and trying to not make mistakes.”

Sabathia allowed his most runs since he gave up eight on July 21, 2006. If he was coming unglued, though, he didn’t show it.

Years ago, Sabathia was demonstrative on the field. In the clubhouse after a tough loss, he once punched a pillar near his locker, leaving a hole in it.

Those days seem to be gone now. He keeps his emotions in check.

“When he was younger, things kind of carried at times from one start to the next,” Cleveland pitching coach Carl Willis said. “After the All-Star break he kind of got off his schedule a little bit and he struggled a couple of games after that, and once he got back into his routine he turned it around and I fully expect that would be the case now.”