Aviles’ 10th-inning homer gives Indians sweep of Rays

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Mike Aviles homered on the first pitch of the 10th inning, giving the Cleveland Indians a 4-3 victory and four-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday.

Corey Kluber struck out 14 over eight innings. Brian Shaw (1-1) pitched one scoreless inning for the win, and Cody Allen struck out the side in the 10th to earn his 15th save in 16 opportunities. Tampa Bay struck out a franchise-record 19 times in the game.

Aviles homered off Xavier Cedeno (1-0), extending Tampa Bay’s losing streak to five games. Michael Brantley had a RBI single and sacrifice fly for the Indians, who also got run-scoring singles from Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor.

Matched up against lefty Matt Moore, who was making his first start since undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2014, Kluber allowed four runs and seven hits. He struck out the side in the seventh and eighth innings.

Kluber settled down after he allowed three straight hits and fell behind 2-0 in the first inning. The Rays didn’t have another hit until Kevin Kiermaier doubled off the tip of first baseman Carlos Santana’s glove leading off the sixth and scored on Grady Sizemore’s second RBI single of the game.

Asdrubal Cabrera’s infield single – also off Santana’s glove – drove in a second run in the sixth, making it 4-4.

Despite setting a team record for strikeouts, Tampa Bay’s offense took a small step forward after being shut down offensively over the first three games of the series, outings which saw Carlos Carrasco, Cody Anderson and Danny Salazar take perfect games beyond the fifth inning.

The Rays finished with three hits on Monday, two Tuesday and just one Wednesday, when Carrasco came within one strike of throwing Cleveland’s first no-hitter in 34 years when Joey Butler singled on an 0-2 pitch.

In addition to being the first time in franchise history that the Rays were limited to three or fewer hits in three consecutive games, it also was the first time in the majors since the Los Angeles Dodgers did it against the Oakland Athletics in June 2012.

A 17-game winner two years ago, Moore was injured during his second start of 2014 and had surgery performed on his pitching elbow two weeks later. He’s the ninth starting pitcher used by the Rays this season, tied for third in the AL and fifth in the majors.

The 26-year-old left-hander faced the minimum nine batters over the first three innings before fading quickly.

Kipnis and Lindor began the Cleveland fourth with singles and Brantley followed with his sacrifice fly to cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 2-1. The Indians added three runs in the fifth off Moore, who threw three wild pitches and allowed four runs, six hits and two walks over 4 2-3 innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rays: 1B James Loney (broken left middle finger) could return Friday. … OF Desmond Jennings (knee surgery) is pain-free, but has not resumed baseball activities.

UP NEXT

Indians: RHP Trevor Bauer (6-5) will face Pittsburgh RHP Charlie Morton (6-1) in the opener of a three-game interleague series Friday night. Bauer is 2-0 with an 0.82 ERA in three interleague starts this season. Morton is 4-0 with a 1.98 ERA in four home starts.

Rays: RHP Chris Archer (9-5) and New York Yankees RHP Masahiro Tanaka (4-3) are set to pitch in the first of a three-game set Friday night. Archer gave up a career-high three homers against Boston in his previous start Sunday.