Jul 2, 2015; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Cleveland Indians shortstop Mike Aviles (4) high fives third base coach Mike Sarbaugh (16) as he runs around the bases after he hit a home run during the tenth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Cleveland Indians defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4. Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Cleveland left fielder Mike Aviles sent the first pitch of the 10th inning over the wall in left field, giving the Indians a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on Thursday afternoon.
The Indians (37-41) completed a four-game sweep of the Rays (42-39), who hadn’t been swept in a four-game series since September 2009 at the New York Yankees.
The Rays have dropped nine of 11 games and fallen out of first in the American League East. The bullpen gave up runs in all four losses to Cleveland.
Aviles hit the home run — his fourth of the season — off reliever Xavier Cedeno (1-1), who took the loss after four Rays relievers had pitched four-plus innings of scoreless relief. Cleveland pitchers struck out 19 Rays batters, the most ever by a Rays opponent.
Indians starter Corey Kluber struck out 14, his second-highest total of the season. He left after eight innings, with the game tied 4-4, having thrown 85 of 115 pitches for strikes.
Cody Allen pitched a perfect 10th for the save, striking out the side, and 10 of the Rays’ last 12 outs came by strikeout.
Rays left-hander Matt Moore, who missed nearly 15 months recovering from Tommy John surgery, pitched for the first time since April 2014. Moore started off impressively, retiring the first nine batters as the Rays built a 2-0 lead.
Tampa Bay, which had seen Indians pitchers take perfect games into the sixth inning three days in a row, ended any drama there with three hits in the first inning.
Designated hitter Grady Sizemore’s RBI single gave the Rays a 1-0 lead, and a double steal, plus a throwing error by catcher Yan Gomes, allowed third baseman Evan Longoria to score.
Cleveland cut the lead to 2-1 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by center fielder Michael Brantley, scoring second baseman Jason Kipnis, whose bloop pop to shallow left had dropped in for the team’s first hit.
After allowing just two hits in the first four innings, Moore ran into trouble in the fifth. He gave up four hits, including three straight RBI singles by Kipnis, shortstop Francisco Lindor and Brantley. Moore left the game after 4 2/3 innings and 81 pitches, trailing 4-2. Reliever Steve Geltz got out of a bases-loaded jam to keep the Rays within two runs.
In the sixth, the Rays struck for four hits, including three with two outs, off Kluber to tie the game. Sizemore had his second RBI single of the game; and, after a single by second baseman Logan Forsythe, the Rays tied the game when shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera hit a single off the glove of first baseman Carlos Santana.
NOTES: When Carlos Carrasco lost a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth Wednesday, it was the first potential Indians no-hitter to miss by a single out since 1954, when Chicago’s Minnie Minoso broke up Early Wynn’s no-hitter, according to SABR’s Stew Thornley. … The Rays had six hits in the first three games of the series and ended up with 14. Going back to 1914, the fewest hits for any team in a four-game series is 11, by the 1961 Boston Red Sox. The next lowest total is 13, which has happened eight times. … The Rays issued fans “Moore 55” stickers to celebrate starter Matt Moore returning to the mound for the first time in nearly 15 months. Moore had Tommy John surgery in April 2014. … Cleveland held an opponent to three hits or fewer for three games in a row for the first time since 1970. The Indians have held teams to three or fewer hits eight times this season — only the Rays’ pitchers (nine) have done it more.
