Indians blanked by Rays as Price wins 13th

Indians blanked by Rays as Price wins 13th

Published Jul. 19, 2012 3:21 p.m. ET

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Ubaldo Jimenez kept it close against David Price through five innings.

Things fell apart in the sixth.

Price became the AL's first 13-game winner, B.J. Upton had three RBIs, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Indians 6-0 on Thursday.

"That's why I felt that (Wednesday's) win was so important for us, because you really don't want come into the last game of the series trying to tie the series against David Price," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "He overpowered us. We just didn't have good at-bats against him."

Price (13-4) allowed two hits over seven innings. The All-Star left-hander had seven strikeouts and three walks.

Upton hit a three-run double off Jimenez (8-9) during a four-run sixth that put the Rays up 5-0. After getting two outs, Jimenez loaded the bases before giving up Upton's shot down the third-base line.

"It was a slider that got too much of the plate," Jimenez said. "He's a really good hitter."

Upton scored on Carlos Pena's RBI single.

Jimenez allowed five runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings. He struck out five and walked five.

"He threw a lot better than the last outing, so we're very encouraged by that," Acta said. "I thought Ubaldo battled well for us. He gave us five innings to do something, to score runs, and we couldn't do it."

Jimenez was coming off a start last Saturday in which he gave up eight runs in 2 1-3 innings in an 11-9 loss to Toronto.

Wade Davis pitched the final two innings and completed a two-hitter for the Rays.

After Carlos Santana walked to start the fifth, Jose Lopez lined a single to center for the Indians' first hit. Price, however, was able to work out of the jam, aided by Santana getting thrown out attempting to steal third during a double-steal try.

Jeff Keppinger made it 6-0 on a seventh-inning run-scoring double.

Luke Scott put the Rays up 1-0 on a third-inning solo homer. He is 14 for 33 in eight games against Cleveland since the weekend before the All-Star break, while going hitless in 38 at-bats in 12 games against all other teams.

The Rays loaded the bases with two outs in the first, but failed to score when the struggling Hideki Matsui struck out. After hitting homers in two of his first three games with the Rays, Matsui is 12 for 79.

Jimenez helped himself defensively in the fourth by fielding Sean Rodriguez's bunt and tagging out Desmond Jennings, who tried to score from third, at the plate.

Tampa Bay second baseman Ben Zobrist made a nice running catch in shallow center on Shin-Soo Choo's soft liner leading off the first.

NOTES: The Indians are 0-5 overall against Price. ... Rays C Jose Molina swiped second in the second for his first stolen base of the year and 13th overall. ... Indians OF Michael Brantley was the DH. "Something to get Michael off his feet today," Cleveland manager Manny Acta said. ... Tampa Bay RF Matt Joyce has soreness and was out of the lineup after playing consecutive days. He had missed 23 games due to a left oblique strain before returning Tuesday from the 15-day DL.

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