Indians clinch win over Rays with late runs

TAMPA BAY (Reuters) - The Cleveland Indians capitalized on a Tampa Bay error to snap a three-game losing streak with a 7-3 win at Tropicana Field Saturday.

With a runner on and no outs in an unfortunate eighth inning, Rays second baseman Ben Zobrist misplayed a tailor-made double play ball.

Relief pitcher J.P. Howell hit the next batter with a pitch to load the bases and pinch-hitter Shelley Duncan promptly delivered two runs with a long single off the wall in left field.

Orlando Cabrera also hit a two-run single in the inning to stretch the Indians lead to 7-2.

"Huge hit by Shelley. Huge hit by Orlando, who always seems to be in the middle of these rallies," Indians manager Manny Acta told reporters.

Cleveland blitzed the Rays with four consecutive hits to start the game and opened a 2-0 lead before pushing it to 3-0 on a solo home run by Matt LaPorta in the second inning.

Tampa Bay closed the Indians' early advantage to 3-2 with a solo home run by Evan Longoria in the third and an RBI bunt single by Sean Rodriguez to score Matt Joyce in the fourth.

"We got ourselves back in (the game)," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

"We kept battling well. The big play was the ground ball that should have been a double play in the eighth inning that we did not turn. That was a big play."

Tampa Bay added a run in the ninth but were unable to capitalize further, despite loading the bases with two outs.

Carlos Carrasco pitched six strong innings for Cleveland to improve to 4-2, allowing two runs on seven hits and striking out four.

James Shields picked up the loss despite a strong effort through seven innings, allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out eight.

(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario; Editing by Alastair Himmer)