Rays 7, Indians 1: James Loney had three hits and two RBIs to back six scoreless innings from Erik Bedard as host Tampa Bay halted a four-game losing streak.
Matt Joyce drove in a pair, Evan Longoria had an RBI double and David DeJesus and Yunel Escobar contributed run-scoring singles as the Rays also ended a string of six straight losses at home and snapped Cleveland’s four-game winning streak. Bedard (2-1) permitted only one hit, walked three and struck out four to register back-to-back victories following a 15-start winless drought.
Indians right-hander Zach McAllister (3-3) lasted only 4 1/3 innings and yielded five runs on eight hits to fall to 0-3 over his last four starts. Ryan Raburn doubled and had a sacrifice fly for Cleveland, which had only one hit through eight innings after scoring 23 times during its four-game run.
Leading 1-0, Tampa Bay added two runs in the fourth when Loney singled in front of a double by Wil Myers and scored on Joyce’s sacrifice fly before Escobar’s single plated Myers. Longoria doubled home a run in the fifth and came around on Loney’s bloop single down the right-field line to make it 5-0 and knock out McAllister.
Loney was in the middle of another rally in the seventh, following a double by Ben Zobrist (two hits) with his second RBI single before Joyce delivered his second sacrifice fly for a 7-0 lead. Juan Carlos Oviedo set down all six batters he faced before closer Grant Balfour gave up a run in the ninth.
GAME NOTEBOOK: DeJesus, who had three doubles among his four hits in Friday’s loss, is 10-for-22 during a six-game hitting streak. … Indians CF Michael Brantley singled in the ninth inning to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. … Indians RHP John Axford was removed from his closer’s role prior to Saturday’s game, manager Terry Francona said. Axford allowed a pair of game-winning homers Sunday and Monday and was pulled from Friday’s outing in the ninth inning.
