CLEVELAND — C.C. Sabathia and the Indians saw their fortunes remain the same Wednesday night at Progressive Field.
That was bad news where both parties were concerned.
With Sabathia continuing to sputter and his teammates following suit, Cleveland was drubbed 13-2 in the first of its head-to-head matchups with Detroit, losing for the sixth time in seven games.
The loss dropped the Indians into a tie with the Tigers for last place in the Central Division, despite both entering the season as the consensus division favorites.
It is probably time to panic where Sabathia is concerned.
Cleveland’s ace, the defending Cy Young Award winner, has looked more like a rookie pitcher trying to find his way through his first four starts, posting an 0-3 record and 13.50 ERA.
The left-hander never gave his team a chance Wednesday, allowing nine runs on eight hits through just four innings — a performance that came on the heels of a nine-run, 12-hit effort in 31/3 innings of a loss to Oakland in his previous start.
“I’m concerned,” said Indians manager Eric Wedge. “I felt like he was really going to go out there and have a better day.
“He’s going to have to go out there and get his head straight. He’s better than that. I’ve got a lot of faith in C.C. He just can’t give into it.”
Sabathia did exactly that against a struggling Detroit team that found Cleveland’s ace a perfect tonic to emerge from its funk.
After retiring the side in order in the first and being staked to a 1-0 lead on a David Dellucci home run, Sabathia permitted the Tigers to take the lead back in the second on a two-run homer from Miguel Cabrera in the Detroit third baseman’s first career at-bat off him. An RBI single from Cabrera in the third put the Tigers up 3-1 before the wheels fell off for Sabathia in the fifth.
Walking the first three batters and mixing in an awkward balk, Sabathia paved the way for a seven-run inning, with Edgar Renteria’s grand slam serving as the big blow. Sabathia has already totaled 14 walks in 18 innings after not piling up that many until June of last year, when he walked 37 in 241 innings.
Renteria’s grand slam chased Sabathia, who left the field to a chorus of boos for the second straight time in front of his hometown fans.
“I’d boo myself. I’ve always said that,” said Sabathia, who had no reaction for the crowd as he left the field. “If you deserve it, what can you say?”
Sabathia is more concerned with figuring out what’s going wrong.
He cited command as the biggest obstacle, saying his cut fastball has been ineffective, which has led to his inability to work the inside corner to right-handed hitters — a disastrous mix for a Detroit lineup full of powerful right-handed hitters.
“I don’t think it’s anything mechanically,” said Sabathia, who also indicated the problem was not physical. “I’ve been searching all over the place for reasons. I just think I did a really good job of commanding both sides of the plate, and I’m not doing that this year.”
Adding injury to insult was a sparkling performance from Sabathia’s counterpart, Tigers starter Armando Galarraga, who in just his fourth big league appearance outpitched Cleveland’s ace and then some.
The right-hander, who was promoted from Triple-A Toledo to make the start for an injury-depleted rotation, pitched like a big league veteran, allowing two runs on just a hit, while striking out six through 6 2/3 innings.
After surrendering Dellucci’s first homer of the season with one out in the opening inning, Galarraga didn’t allow another hit until there were two outs in the seventh, retiring 17 straight — six on strikeouts.
“I don’t want to take anything away from him,” Wedge said of the 26-year-old Venezuelan. “He did a good job, but I didn’t think we did a particularly good job with our approach. We didn’t make good outs and we didn’t have very good at-bats. I think we gave away some at-bats and I don’t have much tolerance for that at all.”
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. 

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