Cleveland 3, Tampa Bay 1
When: 7:05 PM ET, Thursday, July 5, 2012
Where: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio
Temperature:
83°
Umpires:
Home -
Mike Muchlinski, 1B -
Jerry Layne, 2B -
Bob Davidson, 3B -
Jim Wolf
Attendance:
26577
By SportsDirect Inc.
Indians 3, Rays 1: Josh Tomlin put up his best start in months and Shin-Soo Choo, Michael Brantley and Travis Hafner each hit solo homers to lead host Cleveland to its third straight win.
Tomlin (5-5) needed only 88 pitches to get through seven frames and surrendered one run on two hits without walking a batter. The right-hander, who entered with an 8.24 ERA in his previous four starts, struck out three.
Vinnie Pestano worked the eighth and Chris Perez took over in the ninth and earned his 24th save for the Indians, who have taken five of six to keep pace in the American League Central.
Jeremy Hellickson (4-5) was nearly as sharp as Tomlin for the Rays but could not keep the ball in the park the first two innings. The right-hander left a 2-0 fastball over the middle to Choo leading off the bottom of the first and the left-handed hitter pulled it into the right-field seats for his ninth blast.
Brantley struck the next inning in the same fashion, pulling a 1-0 fastball out to right. Brantley has hit two of his three home runs in the last two games.
Hafner provided some breathing room in the eighth with his seventh blast - a towering shot off the facing of the second deck in right.
Tampa Bay's Luke Scott was hitless in three at-bats to extend his slump to 0-for-39, setting a franchise record. Jose Cruz Jr. set the previous mark in 2004 by going hitless in 37 at-bats.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Brantley has six RBIs in the last three games and has scored four runs in that span. … Hafner has hit safely in two games since coming off the disabled list. … Hellickson has not won since May 16 despite allowing two earned runs or less in five of his last seven turns. … The Rays have dropped eight of their last 11 games while averaging only 3.2 runs in that stretch.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| Tampa Bay |
|
Cleveland |
|
Jeremy Hellickson |
Player |
Josh Tomlin |
|
Loss |
W/L |
Win |
|
6.0 |
IP |
7.0 |
|
3 |
Strikeouts |
3 |
|
5 |
Hits |
2 |
|
3.00 |
ERA |
1.29 |
Hitting
| Tampa Bay |
|
Cleveland |
|
Elliot Johnson | Player |
Michael Brantley
|
|
2 |
Hits |
2 |
|
0 |
RBI |
1 |
|
0 |
HR |
1 |
|
2 |
TB |
5 |
|
.667 |
Avg |
.667 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Tampa Bay
|
4 |
0 |
6 |
.129 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Cleveland
|
7 |
3 |
16 |
.250 |
15 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
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