3 strikes for Tribe

CLEVELAND (AP) — Opening day, evening and night. For their first home game, the Cleveland Indians played what felt like a tripleheader.

They lost all three.

Marco Scutaro’s bloop RBI single brought home the go-ahead run in Toronto’s six-run eighth inning and the Blue Jays overcame a bullpen meltdown following a nearly four-hour rain delay for a 13-7 win over the Indians, who are 0-4 for the first time since 1985.

Alex Rios and Adam Lind had four RBIs apiece for the Blue Jays. Brandon League (1-0) got the ugly win despite walking a batter to load the bases in the seventh, hitting Ben Francisco to force in the tying run and getting his only out on a scorching line drive.

His shaky outing was quickly forgotten when Lind and Rios drove in two runs each in Toronto’s eighth-inning outburst, which began with Scott Rolen hitting a single off Rafael Perez (0-1).

Travis Hafner hit his second homer in two days and drove in three runs, and Victor Martinez and Shin-Soo Choo also homered for Cleveland, the AL’s only winless team. Swept in a three-game series to start the season at Texas, the Indians have given up 42 runs in four games and done little well.

A sellout crowd of 42,473, which enjoyed the usual pomp and festivities of opening day under a gray sky, was reduced to about 500 for the final out, which was recorded 7 hours, 12 minutes after Indians rookie starter Scott Lewis threw his first pitch.

The Blue Jays, who trailed 3-0 after three innings, led 7-4 in the seventh before the Indians tied it thanks to Toronto’s bullpen self-destructing with four walks and a hit batter.

The teams waited out a wet-weather delay that bordered on ridiculous. The dedicated fans who chose to ride it out were forced to endure plunging temperatures and a steady drizzle that never stopped. At one point, the grounds crew removed the tarp and made some minor repairs to the infield before covering it again, drawing moans and boos from the freezing fans.

About the only bonus was that the Cleveland Cavaliers’ game at Philadelphia, which began at 7 p.m., was put on the giant scoreboard in left field. By the time the game resumed at 9:27 p.m., the Cavs were in the final minute of a 102-92 win over the 76ers.

Rafael Betancourt, who was warming up when the game was halted at 5:40 p.m, finally took the mound in the fifth with the Indians trailing by one. He got through it, but gave up a run in the sixth as Toronto went up 5-3.

Choo’s 438-foot homer to right-center made it 5-4, but the Blue Jays tacked on two more in the seventh on Rios’ two-run single.

For three innings, Lewis handled the Blue Jays, holding them to one hit. But in the fourth, Toronto tied it with three runs and four hits, including Lind’s two-run homer.