CLEVELAND _ Considering the struggles with this Indians offense lately, they're not going to give a darn about how runs are scored. On Friday night, it was a little tapper that gave them the lead late in the game.
And that's just fine with them, as it led to a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Progressive Field.
The Indians (26-24) and Rays (29-19) entered the eighth tied 1-1 with Tampa Bay closer Jose Alvarado on the mound. Francisco Lindor led off the inning with a single and was bunted to second by Jason Kipnis, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position.
Alvarado then struggled to find his command. Carlos Santana and Jordan Luplow each drew walks to load the bases for Jose Ramirez, who struck out for the second out.
That led to Roberto Perez, who hit a dribbler toward third base that forced Rays third baseman Daniel Robertson to try a bare-handed attempt. He couldn't field it cleanly, allowing the Indians to take a 2-1 lead. Alvarado then walked Jake Bauers to make it 3-1.
Brad Hand, in the ninth, locked down his 13th save of the season.
Through the first six innings, Luplow represented nearly all of the Indians' offensive output against Rays starter Blake Snell, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner who's in the midst of another strong season.
Luplow in the second inning recorded the Indians' first hit of the day, a leadoff single to right field. He then stole second base but never advanced further, as Snell with one out struck out both Jake Bauers _ his former teammate _ and Eric Haase, who acted as the designated hitter Friday night.
In the fourth, Luplow drilled a fastball from Snell well above the strike zone over the wall in right-center field, a solo shot that tied tie 1-1. It was Luplow's sixth home run of the season, all of them coming against left-handed pitchers.
By the end of the sixth inning, Luplow was 2 for 3 against Snell with that home run. The rest of the Indians combined were 2-for-18 with three walks. The only other hits off Snell were harmless singles, one by Kipnis in the sixth and another off the bat of Ramirez in the seventh. Kipnis' single extended his on-base streak to 19 games, the second-longest streak in the majors behind Oakland A's outfielder Stephen Piscotty's 21-game streak.
The Rays took an early 1-0 lead against Indians starter Shane Bieber. Austin Meadows led off the game with a double and with one out, Avisail Garcia brought home the run with a single to right field. Bieber went on to settle down, allowing only that run in five innings pitched to go with 10 strikeouts. It marked his third career double-digit strikeout game.
Tied 1-1 entering the seventh, the Indians needed three different relievers and a highlight-reel play in center field to escape with the score still tied. Meadows led off that inning, as well, with a double off Adam Cimber to represent the go-ahead run. Cimber induced a groundout off the bat of Tommy Pham for the first out. Tyler Olson entered the game to face lefty Ji-Man Choi and retired the one hitter he faced. A.J. Cole then came on and got Brandon Lowe to hit a fly ball to shadow center field. Leonys Martin raced to it and hauled it in with a sliding catch to end the inning still tied. Cole then struck out the side in the eighth.
