Rookie right-hander Cody Anderson handcuffed the Rays, while the Indians’ offense had 13 hits in a 7-1 win on Monday night at Tropicana Field.
Making his second career Major League start, Anderson retired the first 19 batters he faced before Grady Sizemore homered on a 1-2 pitch with one out in the seventh to spoil his perfect-game bid.
“Man, that was impressive,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of Anderson. “Again, he’s two starts in, but he faced a team for the second time, so they saw him. Last time out, he flipped some really good breaking balls in there. Today, he had really good downhill plane on his fastball — both sides — and then he threw a really good changeup.”
“You know, the guy obviously pitched a really well-pitched game against us,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Couldn’t get too much going until late. Not a high strikeout guy, but a lot of late movement.”
Indians catcher Yan Gomes, who went 3-for-5, answered Sizemore’s blast with a solo home run off Kirby Yates in the eighth that pushed the Indians’ lead to 3-1. That helped Anderson pick up his first career win after giving up just one run on two hits with one strikeout in his eight innings for the Tribe.
Nathan Karns started for the Rays and allowed RBI singles to Michael Brantley and Jason Kipnis in the first two innings to give the Indians a 2-0 lead. Kipnis ended the game 3-for-4 with two runs, including scoring on a wild pitch in Cleveland’s four-run ninth inning.
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