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Wednesday, Aug. 2 7:05pm ET
Wickman gets first save with Indians | |||||
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GAME LOG
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- The Cleveland Indians, winners of five straight AL Central titles, are having a hard time just staying in the AL wild-card race. Wil Cordero had an RBI single and pinch-runner Jolbert Cabrera scored the go-ahead run on catcher Mike DiFelice's passed ball during a two-run eighth inning as the Indians beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 5-3 Wednesday night. "This is a big victory for us," Cleveland manager Charlie Manuel said. "We need to get something going. We need to run off a six-, seven-, eight-game winning streak. It's time for us to step up." The Indians snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the fourth time in 12 games. With the win, Cleveland remains 5½ games behind Oakland in the wild-card race. "We had to win ... we could have really gone into a tailspin," new Indians closer Bob Wickman said. Cordero singled off Roberto Hernandez, the fourth Tampa Bay pitcher of the inning, to tie the game 3-3. Cabrera, who pinch-run after Jim Thome drew a two-out walk off Doug Creek (1-2), scored when DiFelice couldn't handle Hernandez's high fastball. "I think it just took off on him," Devil Rays manager Larry Rothschild said. Hernandez had converted his last 14 save opportunities since blowing one on June 6 at Philadelphia. "I can live with it," Hernandez said. "I made my pitch, and the guy got a base hit on my pitch. It was my pitch, my spot. He just beat me to it." The Devil Rays had a franchise record-tying six-game winning streak snapped. "We were in a good thing ... eventually it has to end," said Tampa Bay starter Bryan Rekar, who allowed two runs and eight hits over seven innings. After Jose Canseco's two-run double off reliever Steve Karsay tied the game 2-2 in the seventh, Aubrey Huff -- making his major league debut -- put the Devil Rays ahead with a deep sacrifice fly to left. Huff was recalled from Triple-A Durham on Tuesday when third baseman Vinny Castilla was placed on the 15-day disabled list with lower back inflammation. Manny Ramirez's 24th homer of the season put the Indians up 1-0 in the second inning. Since returning from a left hamstring injury July 13, Ramirez has 11 homers and 25 RBI in 18 starts. Karsay (3-5) pitched 1 1/3 innings and got the win when Cleveland scored two in the eighth. Bill Selby added an RBI single in the ninth. Wickman, who couldn't hold a one-run lead and took the loss in his Indians debut Tuesday, got the final three outs for his first save. He was acquired from Milwaukee in a seven-player deal July 28. "The whole key to tonight's performance was throwing my breaking ball for strikes," Wickman said. "I knew coming over to this league, I had to throw my breaking ball for strikes." Starter Dave Burba limited the Devil Rays to just two baserunners through six innings. Canseco snapped a 1-for-15 slump with a second-inning, broken-bat single, and Greg Vaughn drew a walk in the fourth. Neither advanced past first base. After Vaughn's walk, Burba retired the next seven hitters before Miguel Cairo opened the seventh with a single. Cairo went to second when Vaughn drew his second walk of the game. Burba departed with a right index finger blister after striking out Fred McGriff for the first out of the seventh. "It was a little frustrating," Burba said. "I was throwing the ball as well as I've thrown it and had to come out of the game." Burba gave up two runs and two hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out five. The Indians took a 2-0 lead on Travis Fryman's fifth-inning sacrifice fly. Cleveland leadoff hitter Kenny Lofton went 0-for-5 to leave him in a 2-for-28 slump. Game notesDevil Rays LHP Tony Saunders made a successful return just over 14 months after he broke his arm delivering a pitch, throwing two scoreless innings for Class A Charleston on Wednesday. Saunders, who was hurt during a May 26, 1999, game against Texas, struck out two, walked one and allowed one hit. ... Ramirez's homer was his 450th extra-base hit, tying him for ninth place with Larry Doby on the Indians' career list. It was his sixth career homer against Tampa Bay in 84 at-bats. ... Indians RHP Jaret Wright (shoulder) allowed two runs and two hits over five innings in a rehab start for Double-A Akron. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Cleveland Clubhouse Tampa Bay Clubhouse RECAPS Kansas City 4 NY Yankees 1
Cleveland 5
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