ST. PETERSBURG (620 WDAE) -- For the second straight night, the Tampa Bay Rays' bats stayed silent as Mike Clevinger led the Cleveland Indians through a four-hitter, whitewashing Tampa Bay 3-0 at Tropicana Field.
Cleveland jumped on Rays starter Chris Archer in the very first inning, with Jose Ramirez drawing a two-out walk, then going from first to third on an infield single by Edwin Encarnacion. Jay Bruce then lifted a fly ball to left that Trevor Plouffe lost and Corey Dickerson gave up on, falling for an RBI double and a 1-0 lead.
Cleveland added on in the third, with Francisco Lindor, who doubled to start the inning and took third on a groundout by Bradley Zimmer, scored on a wild pitch to extend the deficit to 2-0.
The contest stayed 2-0 until the sixth, when Ramirez doubled off Archer to start the inning, going to third on a flyout by Encarnacion. Bruce then singled through a drawn-in infield and drove in Ramirez for a three-run advantage.
Archer, who exited the game in the sixth after walking Carlos Santana, saw his streak of 15 straight starts if six innings or more come to an end. The streak dates back to May 15 and his start in Cleveland against this same Indians team.
Tampa Bay had plenty of opportunities to try and get on the board, but saw things like Lucas Duda hitting a ball squarely but right at Santana to start a double play in the first, and Brad Miller, after doubling to start the fifth, get thrown out trying to steal third base with one out.
The loss drops Tampa Bay back to .500 on the year at 59-59, the first time since June 16 that the Rays have as many losses as wins on the season.
Austin Pruitt (6-3, 5.14 ERA) will try and get the Rays back over .500 and salvage a split of the four-game series with a win in Sunday's finale. He takes on Corey Kluber (10-3, 2.65 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 with coverage on WDAE beginning at 11:00 with The Inside Pitch presented by Sykes Lakeland.
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