WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Aaron Laffey’s outing Thursday at Chain of Lakes Park probably didn’t do much for him in the race to become the Indians’ fifth starter.
But the four-inning effort, in which the 22-year-old left-hander allowed two runs on five hits in a 9-5 victory over the Blue Jays, went a long way toward easing his mind.
“Mentally, after this outing, this is the best I’ve felt (all spring),” said Laffey, who is battling Cliff Lee and Jeremy Sowers for the final spot in Cleveland’s rotation. “I’m much happier with that than the other outings.”
There was nowhere to go but up for Laffey, whose first three appearances resulted in eight earned runs on five hits and an alarming nine walks over four innings.
The struggles forced Laffey to examine his mechanics in the video room. He and pitching coach Carl Willis watched tapes of his outings as Cleveland’s fifth starter last season and, according to the pitcher, Willis detected the problem.
“My tempo was really slow,” Laffey said. “I sped it up and I had a lot more life on the ball. My rhythm and tempo are a lot smoother.
“I just kind of got off track and lost my command.”
Laffey wouldn’t admit that fighting for a job on the major league level for the first time played a part in his early unraveling.
“I haven’t put any added pressure on myself,” he said. “It’s uncontrollable. There’s no sense putting a thought into it. You just have to go out and pitch. Whoever gets the spot, we’ll be happy for him.”
Both young pitchers in the race, Laffey and Sowers, have started slowly, with Lee (3.86 ERA in three exhibition appearances) seemingly forging ahead. Laffey’s ERA stands at 11.25 through four appearances, while Sowers, who starts today against the Nationals in Viera, is at 18.00 through three.  
“I think there have been moments when they’ve tried to do too much,” said manager Eric Wedge. “But I think they’re coming back.”
Laffey more than proved his worth during his big league debut last year, capping a breakthrough season with an impressive effort while filling Lee’s spot in the rotation.
With Lee, a former 18-game winner, and Sowers, one of the majors’ best second-half pitchers in 2006, at Triple-A Buffalo, Laffey made nine starts for Cleveland, going 4-2 with a 4.56 ERA. It was a performance that earned Laffey, the Indians’ minor league pitcher of the year, a spot on the playoff roster.
“It was a roller-coaster ride last year that never went down,” said Laffey, who pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings in Game 6 of the ALCS against Boston in his only postseason appearance. “It was a great season. Hopefully I can do half of what I did last year.”
Laffey took a month off after the season to reflect on what he had accomplished before deciding to use it as a reference point for this year, not a resting one.
“I completely wiped it out of my mind,” Laffey said. “It’s a clean slate. You take what you need from that, but you don’t want to live in last year. But if you get to a point where you’re struggling, it’s something you have to look back at.”
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

INDIANS (7-8-1) 9, BLUE JAYS (5-10) 5

Turning point

At Chain of Lakes Park, the Indians were up by a run in the bottom of the fifth inning when shortstop Jamey Carroll gave them a bigger cushion with a two-run triple that got under the glove of Blue Jays left fielder Reed Johnson.

Hits

Carroll was one of five Cleveland starters — David Dellucci, Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez and Ben Francisco — with multihit games. Martinez led the Indians with three hits, while Hafner clouted his first home run, a solo shot off Toronto starter Shaun Marcum that hit the top of the fence in right-center. Carroll and Hafner combined for five RBIs.
l Reliever Jorge Julio worked a scoreless ninth inning, allowing a hit and striking out one.

Misses

Indians starter Fausto Carmona got the win, but allowed four runs on five hits through four innings.

Prospect punch

Left fielder Andy Gonzalez, a free-agent acquisition who played in 67 games for the White Sox last year, hit his second homer, a two-run shot off Mike Gosling in the eighth inning.

 

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