 |
Rays Take Rubber Match, 4-2
July 26, 2010 By John Skomra
|
Wade Davis and the Rays took the finale of the three-game set against Cleveland at Progressive Field Sunday as the Indians dropped two of three to Tampa Bay. After winning the first game, the Indians are losers of two straight to the Rays as they were unable to cash in on the multiple opportunities throughout the series.
The Indians look to bounce back tonight as they open a four-game series with the Yankees at Progressive Field.
The Indians got on the board first as a leadoff walk to Michael Brantley proved to be costly for Wade Davis. Shin-Shoo Choo kept his hot bat going in advancing Brantley to third with a single to left. Carlos Santana hit a one-out sacrifice fly to right field allowing Brantley to come to score giving the Tribe a 1-0 lead.
A two-out walk by Justin Masterson to Willie Aybar proved to be costly, as well. Two batters later, on a 2-2 Masterson breaking ball, Reid Brignac deposited it over the fence in the deep alley of right centerfield. The two-out four-bagger scored Willie Aybar and John Jaso, who singled following the walk. The Rays jumped on top by the score of 3-1.
The Indians got one back on an RBI fielders' choice off the bat of Andy Marte scoring Travis Hafner and bringing the deficit to 3-2. Hafner had laced a single off Davis to start the inning. He collected four hits on the day.
"I am happy. We need him to produce in the middle of our lineup. We need the consistency," Indians manager Manny Act said of Hafner after the game.
Tampa expanded the lead in the fifth after a booted ground ball by Jhonny Peralta eventually led to Carl Crawford sacrifice fly scoring shortstop Jason Bartlett.
Cleveland threatened in the bottom of the seventh as Marte and Asdrubal Cabrera both singled. However, they were left stranded on second and third after Santana smashed a ground ball into the shift and was forced out by an outstanding diving play by Brignac to hold the score at 4-2.
Shelley Duncan was called to pinch-hit in the eighth inning with two men aboard but popped up to right field to end the inning and the threat. The Tribe left eleven men on base including eight in scoring position.
Rafael Soriano closed to door in the ninth to earn his twenty-sixth save of the year.
Masterson (3-9) pitched well going 6 2/3 innings allowing only five hits and three earned runs with five strikeouts. Cleveland's bullpen combined for 2 1/3 scoreless innings. In their last 69 1/3 innings, the Tribe's bullpen has an astounding 2.07 ERA allowing only sixteen earned runs. Davis (8-9) pitched 6 1/3 innings of seven hit ball allowing two earned runs while striking out four in earning his eighth win of the year.
"We got beat by pitching and defense. We pitched well. Masterson pitched well. Offensively, we had terrible approaches at the plate. We just couldn't take advantage of our opportunities,"disappointedActa said.
Acta also announced that Josh Tomlin will be called up from Columbus and will start Tuesday against the Yankees in place of Aaron Laffey. Tomlin is 8-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 107.1 innings pitched.
