Cleveland Indians Win Three in a Row!!

The Cleveland Indians won their third in a row, by an 8-4 margin.  Grady Sizemore hit his league-leading 23rd home run of the season.  Matt Ginter won his first game in over four years, and the Tampa Bay Rays lost their sixth in a row on Saturday night at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Everyone on the Indians starting lineup card registered at least one hit in this one, with the exception of Kelly Shoppach.  Ryan Garko led the way with two hits and five RBI, batting out of the eight-hole and playing first base.

The Tribe took a quick 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second.  After a David Dellucci single was sandwiched in between a pair of outs, Garko got his first two RBI the dramatic way, homering to right field. 

Franklin Gutierrez followed with a single, and Grady Sizemore hit a long home run to center field, making it 4-0 Indians.  Even with the scoring done for the inning, Jamey Carroll and Ben Francisco each had two out hits as well, with Carroll getting thrown out at the plate.

In the bottom half of the third, Garko got the rest of his five RBI on a bases-clearing double.  His seeing-eye right-center gap hit landed between a pair of diving Rays, bringing in Jhonny Peralta, Casey Blake, and Dellucci.  Those three had loaded the bases earlier in the inning with three singles in a row.

That made it 7-0 Tribe.  Ginter came out after five innings.  His stat line read like an Arby’s roast beef sandwich special: Five for five.  He gave up five hits through five with no runs.

Rafael Betancourt came on in the sixth, pitching two innings of two-hit ball. 

Juan Rincon gave the Rays some hope in the top half of the eighth, surrendering four runs on two hits.  YIKES!!  The first two outs came off without a hitch before Rincon lost it. 

Eric Hinske singled, Carlos Pena walked, as did Evan Longoria.  Cliff Floyd singled, scoring both Hinske and Pena.  Masa Kobayashi took over for Rincon, also surrendering a single to Dioner Navarro, and letting two in before getting the last out on a Gabe Gross ground out.

The Indians would get one back in the bottom half of the eighth.  Casey Blake hit an RBI single that scored Ben Francisco.  Peralta was out advancing to third on the play, ending the inning.

Kobayashi pitched a perfect ninth, squelching any ideas of a second rally.  35,706 came out to see the victory. 

The last game of the four-game set, and the final outing prior to the All Star break will be at 1:05 Sunday.  The Tribe is passing out free baseball mitts to kids, and they can run the bases after the game.

Lefty Scott Kazmir (7-4, 2.69 ERA) matches up against Cleveland lefty Jeremy Sowers (7.81, 0-5).