Cleveland @ Tampa Bay preview
Tropicana Field
Last Meeting ( Jul 10, 2010 ) Cleveland 0, Tampa Bay 4
The way the Cleveland Indians have been playing, the All-Star break couldn’t come soon enough. A three-day break is the last thing the Tampa Bay Rays need.
Cleveland caps a four-game series against the surging Rays on Sunday at St. Petersburg, Fla. Tampa Bay has won seven of its last eight games and leads the wild-card race by three games heading into the last day of the first half of the season.
Tampa Bay cruised past Cleveland on Saturday night. Powered by a brilliant performance from starter Matt Garza, the Rays rolled to a 4-0 victory.
Garza and three relievers combined on a three-hitter. Garza (10-5) limited the Indians to one hit over six innings to notch the win. He allowed just one walk and struck out two.
The Rays scored all four runs in the game with two outs. Ben Zobrist got things started with a walk off loser Aaron Laffey (1-3). Sean Rodriguez followed with a ground-rule double over the left field wall and Gabe Kapler singled to center to score both runners.
It was all that Garza and the Rays ’pen would need.
Willy Aybar’s single with two outs in the fifth inning scored Evan Longoria and Jason Bartlett capped the scoring with a run-scoring double in the eighth.
Laffey allowed three runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Grant Balfour, Joaquin Benoit and Rafael Soriano all worked scoreless innings in relief for the Rays.
The Rays are two games behind the New York Yankees for the American League East lead and the two teams will meet for a three-game series immediately after the All-Star break.
Rays manager Joe Maddon said that James Shields, today’s starter Jeff Niemann and David Price would start the games against the Yankees. Price will pitch in Tuesday’s All-Star game.
Maddon moved Carl Crawford to designated hitter on Saturday to give him some extra time to rest his sore shoulder while Carlos Pena, who leads the team with 18 homers, was given the night off. Both are question marks for today.
Niemann continues to give the Rays rotation a big boost. Niemann (7-2) won his last start, a 3-2 decision over the Boston Red Sox. He allowed just one unearned run in six innings.
The Indians will start Justin Masterson (3-8). After two fantastic starts in a row in early June, Masterson has won just one of his last four starts and was hammered by the Texas Rangers 12-1 in his last outing.
The Indians acquired Masterson from the Red Sox last season and still believe he can be a solid starter for them. He is 1-3 lifetime against the Rays and has allowed six home runs in 21 innings against Tampa Bay.