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
By SportsDirect Inc.
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
Hitting
Cleveland |
|
Tampa Bay |
Johnny Damon | Player |
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 |