Last season, when the Indians were playing their worst leading up towards the All-Star Break, the Rays came to town the surprise leader of the AL East. The Indians swept the four-game series, and had an excellent second half. This season, the Rays came to town with the Indians in a similar circumstance. The Tribe rotation was in shambles, and a couple innings into the first game of the series, hit a new low, as Fausto Carmona flamed out early. But somehow there seems to be some supernatural force at work preventing the Indians from losing to the Rays at home no matter how dire the circumstances might be.
Tonight, again, the game started out badly. Starter Zach Jackson gave up five runs in the first inning, and would be out of the game after the fourth inning. But the Indians quickly hit their way out of the early hole, and chased Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine in three innings. The offense continued to add runs against the back end of Tampa's bullpen, and they continued to get decent innings from the likes of Greg Aquino and Luis Vizcaino, who together saved the rest of the bullpen by pitching the final five innings of the game.
The Indians aren't exactly playing good baseball, but they're now the proud owners of a three-game winning streak for the first time all season.They've now won an incredible 16 straight game against the Rays at home; their last lost to Tampa Bay at Jacobs/Progressive Field came against Seth McClung in the last week of 2005.
| Highest WPA | Lowest WPA | ||
| Ben Francisco | .236 | Zach Jackson | -.441 |
| Jamey Carroll | .170 | Mark DeRosa | -.002 |
| Ryan Garko | .128 |