Former college teammates Jeremy Sowers and Jensen Lewis dialed it back five years in Sunday's 4-3 win over the Angels before 28,356 fans.

At Vanderbilt, Sowers, a sophomore starter, and Lewis, the Commodores' freshman closer, teamed up a number of times to shut down their Southeastern Conference opponents.

The irony didn't slip past Lewis -- the Tribe's newest de facto closer -- as he sought out Sowers before Sunday's game.

"I actually told him during the national anthem, 'This is your day,'" Lewis said. '"I'm going to come in and I'm going to stop them."'

Lewis eventually did, inducing Erick Aybar to fly out to left field with two runners left on base. But it certainly didn't go as easy as it did when he still lived in a dorm.

Staked to a tenuous one-run advantage, Lewis entered the ninth with a chance to give the Indians their seventh win in 10 games and send the Angels to Tampa Bay with their first American League series loss since May 11. All he needed were three outs and he would have his third save in as many opportunities since he took over the Tribe's revolving door ninth-inning duties.

The first pitch certainly went well, as Juan Rivera sent a high pop-up to shallow center field. But it surprisingly dropped in among three Tribe fielders, the result of the outfield playing "no-doubles" defense.

"I was like, 'One-pitch, one out,'" Lewis said. "That's pretty good."

Sean Rodriguez's sacrifice bunt advanced pinch-runner Gary Matthews to second before pinch-hitter Kendry Morales slapped a sharp single to right field to put runners on the corners with just one out.

"When you're talking about any ninth inning, particularly a one-run ballgame, that's more than likely the key to the inning for the opposition," manager Eric Wedge said. "He really had to bow his neck there, and that's what he did."

The turning point came when Lewis ran an inside fastball on Chone Figgins -- the fourth inside fastball of the five-pitch at-bat -- causing the Angels' leadoff man to loft an infield fly for the second out. The third out came much easier, as Aybar sent a second-pitch fastball high into foul territory to end the game.

"When you talk about the definition of a save, that's it," Wedge said. "He had some moxie about him out there."

That moxie may not translate to him being handed the keys to the closer's role in 2009, but Lewis will certainly enjoy the ride while it lasts.

"This is awesome. When you're in the bullpen, this is the opportunity you want," Lewis said. "It's a lot of fun right now and I'm just enjoying each opportunity they give me."

As he has in the majority of his starts since early July, Sowers gave the Tribe a chance to win on this day. And, as he has throughout the entire season, particularly in his past three starts, Sowers put the Tribe in an early hole.

Sowers allowed three straight singles to start his day, the third coming from Mark Teixeira, which plated Figgins for a 1-0 lead. Aybar, who advanced to third on a Grady Sizemore error, came around on Vladimir Guerrero's fielder's choice to put the Halos up, 2-0, and up his first-inning ERA to 9.60.

"It was just kind of ironic that that would happen after having two outings where I was bad in the first inning," Sowers said, "I was making my pitches this time around. They were just making things happen."

The Indians made it happen in their bottom half of the inning when Franklin Gutierrez slapped a two-run single up the middle after an eight-pitch at-bat against Angels starter Joe Saunders. A rare Ryan Garko infield single put the Tribe up, 3-2, in the third inning to set up Sowers, again tenuously, for just his second win of the season.

But Sowers gave it back in the fifth inning when Figgins came around to score on a Sal Fasano passed ball to even it up, 3-3.

"The ball kind of cut on me and hit off the heel of my glove and went awry," Fasano said. "I was pretty upset after that."

Fasano got his redemption when he brought the Tribe back and gave it the lead for good in the sixth inning when he led off the inning with a double to right-center field, which could have been a home run had Torii Hunter not slapped it back with a leaping attempt.

"[Kelly Shoppach] said if it would have went over the yellow line, he probably would have caught it," Fasano said. "I think it deeked him because it stayed just under his glove."

It wouldn't stop him from scoring, though, as he came around to score what would be the game-winning run on Sizemore's RBI bloop single, setting up Sowers and Lewis for the tag-team, throwback victory.

"If Jeremy Sowers doesn't do what he did today, we don't have a chance to win this game," Lewis said. "We haven't picked him up all year, so I kind of went out there with the thought, 'Over my dead body.'"