Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Cleveland 3, Tampa Bay 2
When: 7:10 PM ET, Monday, July 16, 2012
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature: Indoors
Umpires: Home - Mark Wegner, 1B - Dale Scott, 2B - Dan Iassogna, 3B - CB Bucknor
Attendance: 14337

Indians 3, Rays 2: Zach McAllister pitched six solid innings to win his third straight decision and Shin-Soo Choo and Jason Kipnis provided RBI doubles as visiting Cleveland took the four-game series opener.

Shoo, Kipnis and Johnny Damon had two hits apiece and Shoo scored twice as the Indians improved to 14-5 in one-run games this season.

Desmond Jennings hit a solo homer in the seventh inning for Tampa Bay, which has lost three of four since the All-Star break.

McAllister (4-1), who allowed one run, three hits, walked four and struck out five, is 3-0 with a 2.31 ERA in four starts since being recalled from Triple-A Columbus on June 28.

Rays starter Alex Cobb (4-6) allowed three runs (two earned), five hits and walked five in 3 2/3 innings.

The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Choo scored on a passed ball by Jose Molina with two outs. Choo led off the game with what was originally ruled a home run, but the umpires changed it to a double after a video review revealed the ball hit off the top of the wall.

Cleveland went ahead 3-0 in the third on RBI doubles by Shoo and Kipnis after Damon led off the inning with a double.

Tampa Bay broke through against McAllister in the fourth with three straight singles to open the inning – the last a run-scoring line drive off McAllister’s right forearm by Jeff Keppinger – to make it 3-1.

All-Star Chris Perez pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 26th save in 28 chances.

GAME NOTEBOOK:
Cleveland improved to 18-0 when leading after six innings on the road. … The Indians loaded the bases with none out in the fourth and the first two batters reached in the fifth, but didn’t score in either inning. They went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position. … There were 14 walks, including eight issued by Tampa Bay. … Cleveland’s Michael Brantley went 0-for-1 with three walks and had his 13-game hitting streak snapped.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Cleveland   Tampa Bay
Zach McAllister Player Alex Cobb
Win W/L Loss
6.0 IP 3.1
5 Strikeouts 3
3 Hits 5
1.50 ERA 5.40
Hitting
Cleveland   Tampa Bay
Johnny DamonPlayer Desmond Jennings
2 Hits 2
0 RBI 1
0 HR 1
3 TB 5
.667 Avg .667
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Cleveland 8 0 13 .267 24 10 2 8 1 0
Tampa Bay 6 1 9 .194 16 10 2 6 1 1