Price is wrong: Indians can’t solve Rays’ ace
Associated Press
st. petersburg, fla.
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 52/3 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 21/3 innings in an 11-9 loss to Toronto.
Wade Davis pitched the final two innings and completed a two-hitter for the Rays.