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Price shines as Rays blank Indians

May 28, 2011 - 6:52 AM St. Petersburg, FL (Sports Network) - David Price struck out a career-high 12 batters in a sparkling seven-inning shutout performance, as the Rays blanked the Cleveland Indians, 5-0, at Tropicana Field.

Casey Kotchman and Sam Fuld provided the offense as each hit a two-run homer in the second inning. Matt Joyce went 3-for-4 with and RBI single for Tampa Bay, which snapped a two-game skid and won for just the second time in its last seven contests.

Price (6-4) yielded four hits and a pair of walks to bounce back from a road loss against the Marlins last Saturday. He moved to 4-0 in five lifetime starts against Cleveland.

"David was more like himself ... He had great command of all of his stuff," Rays manager Joe Maddon said of his ace.

Josh Tomlin (6-2) gave up four runs for the first time all season and had his two-start winning streak broken. The right-hander was charged with 10 hits and struck out four over six innings.

Cleveland, which totaled four hits, lost its third in a row.

The Indians activated outfielder Grady Sizemore from the 15-day disabled list prior to the game. Sizemore, who hadn't played since May 10 because of a right knee contusion, went hitless in four at-bats.

The Rays, playing for the first time since Tuesday due to a rainout in Detroit, took advantage of the long ball in the second. Joyce doubled to right field, and with one out Kotchman got hold of a 1-0 offering and deposited it over the wall in right field.

Sean Rodriguez then legged out an infield hit, leading to Fuld's homer to right.

Meanwhile, the Indians got doubles from Carlos Santana in the second and Shelley Duncan in the fourth. The problem was Price fanned the other three batters in both of those frames.

Orlando Cabrera and Asdrubal Cabrera singled in the sixth, but Price came back to fan Duncan and Matt LaPorta to end the threat. The 25-year-old southpaw received a scare in the seventh when Sizemore broke his bat on a soft grounder to second for an out. The barrel of the bat skipped over the head of Price, who ducked out of the way just enough to avoid possibly getting hurt.

Despite walking Santana next, Price kept his composure and struck out Austin Kearns. He then froze Jack Hannahan on a called third strike to complete the seventh.

Joyce's soft liner to right scored Ben Zobrist in the seventh.

Joel Peralta retired the side in order on fly balls in the eighth and Adam Russell had a 1-2-3 ninth.

Game Notes

Tampa Bay won two of three meetings at Cleveland from May 10-12 this season and is 10-3 in the last 13 encounters between the two teams...The Rays have yet to commit two errors in a game this season through their first 50 extending their all-time major league mark for most consecutive games to open the season without a multi-error game...Joyce leads the majors with a .377 average. It is the latest into a season any Ray has led the majors (or AL) in batting.