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This time Progressive Field doesn’t ensure Indians’ win against Rays as Cleveland loses, 6-3

Written by: admin on 25th July 2010

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UPDATED: Tampa Bay rallied from three down after four innings to beat the Indians, 6-3. The Rays snapped an 18-game losing streak to the Indians in Cleveland.

View full sizeJohn Kuntz / The Plain DealerThe Indians watch their dominance of the Tampa Bay Rays finally come to an end on Saturday with a 6-3 loss at Progressive Field.

Updated at 12:50 a.m.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Through four innings Saturday night, it was the biggest lock in sports.

The Indians, behind strikeout machine Mitch Talbot, were going to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays in Cleveland yet again.

Then the thinkable happened. The Rays realized they are a contender, and that there is no logical reason for continuing to be dominated by the Tribe on the road.

Or maybe Rays personnel simply got tired of the Indians’ “Christmas in July” promotion.

Whatever the case, Tampa Bay righted itself in a hurry, rallying from three down to defeat the Tribe, 6-3, at Progressive Field. It snapped an 18-game losing streak to the Indians in Cleveland dating to Sept. 29, 2005.

The skid was the longest active by one team in an opposing venue. Tampa Bay was outscored, 110-48, in those 18 games.

Lefty David Price (13-5, 2.90 ERA) allowed three runs on three hits over seven innings.

“I found out about the streak two days ago,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “I only saw one of the 18. I don’t believe in luck or curses. I believe the Tribe played 18 good games against Tampa Bay here.

“The way you stop a streak like that is to score six runs and have David Price on the mound. I’ll take that against the ‘27 Yankees.”

The Rays (58-38) pulled within three of the 2010 Yankees in the AL East. They are a major-league-best 32-18 on the road.

The Tribe (41-56) slipped to 7-2 since the All-Star break. It is 2-6 against Tampa Bay this season.

View full sizePDShelley Duncan, right, gives the Indians a 3-0 lead in the second inning with his two-run homer, driving in Matt LaPorta, left.

Friday night, the Indians won the rain-shortened opener of the three-game series, 3-1. They held the Rays to one hit — an infield single — in 61/2 innings.

Despite facing Price the next night, the Tribe sustained the momentum in the early innings.

The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the first. Trevor Crowe led off with a walk and scored on Shin-Soo Choo’s one-out double to left.

Shelley Duncan’s two-run homer to left in the second made it 3-0. Price got into trouble by relying too much on his money pitch, the fastball.

Meanwhile, Talbot was virtually untouchable. He used a fastball/changeup combination to strike out six consecutive batters from the first through the third innings, tying a franchise record.

Talbot joined Bob Feller (Oct. 2, 1938), Bartolo Colon (July 26, 2000) and Chuck Finley (May 28, 2002) as the Indians to notch six straight strikeouts.

Talbot should have had the record all to himself. A 2-2 pitch to former Indian Kelly Shoppach appeared to be a strike, but umpire Mike Everitt called it a ball. Replays showed the ball crossed the plate comfortably within the strike zone.

Shoppach grounded to short.

The Rays managed one hit — a single by Jason Bartlett — through four.

It must have been particularly painful for the Rays to have Talbot shutting them down. The Indians acquired Talbot from Tampa Bay as the player to be named in the Shoppach trade last December. Talbot has been one of the best rookie starters in the American League.

Talbot acknowledged he was more pumped up than normal while facing his former teammates in the Tampa Bay system.

The Rays’ uprising began innocently enough. With two outs and none on in the fifth, Shoppach singled. Bartlett singled, Shoppach stopping at second.

“I was still making good pitches,” Talbot said. “A couple of ground balls found their way through the infield.”

Then Ben Zobrist brought the thunder. He ripped Talbot’s fastball deep to left-center for what initially went for a triple. The umpires watched a TV replay, saw that the ball hit above the yellow line and awarded Zobrist a homer.

“That three-run homer kind of took the air out of us,” Acta said.

The Rays pulled ahead, 5-3, in the sixth, knocking out Talbot in the process. Carlos Pena homered and B.J. Upton hit an RBI double.

“I threw a get-me-over changeup right down the middle to Pena,” Talbot said.

Talbot (8-9, 4.08 ERA) gave up five runs on seven hits in 5 innings. He walked one and whiffed eight.

Tampa Bay tacked on one in the seventh off Frank Herrmann, snapping a 20 -inning scoreless streak by Tribe relievers at home.

The Indians were held to four hits by Price and two relievers.

“When Price started mixing in his off-speed stuff, he became tougher,” Acta said. “He’s one of the elite guys in the league, so it’s not a surprise that he did what he did.”

The Tribe did manage to extend its extra-base hit streak to 46 games — longest active in the majors.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: dmanoloff@plaind.com, 216-999-4664

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