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Garko's blast in ninth sinks Tampa Bay

Apr 22, 2007 - 10:25 PM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Ryan Garko continued to feast on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Garko hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning as the Cleveland Indians rallied for a 6-4 victory over the Devil Rays in the rubber game of a three-game series.

After Victor Martinez's RBI single directly before sliced the deficit to 4-3, Garko fouled off three straight pitches before drilling a 2-2 curveball from Brian Stokes (1-3) into the left field seats.

"I kind of knew he could throw curves for strikes, especially when you get to two balls, so I got to see it," Garko said. "I felt I had some good passes at him and I finally got one down in the hitting zone to handle it."

Despite the big blast, Garko admitted afterward that he was just trying to put the ball in play.

"I'd rather give something up to put the ball in play," he said. "I'm a big leaguer and with two strikes you still have a chance. You give yourself a chance when you put the ball in play."

The second home run of the season snapped a hitless effort in three previous at-bats for Garko, who is hitting .290 (9-for-31) with two homers and nine RBI in nine career games against Tampa Bay.

Stokes, who was charged with four runs, two hits and a pair of walks in one-third of an inning, was in the game because closer Al Reyes was unavailable after pitching in the first two games of the series.

The meltdown by Stokes ruined an outstanding start by James Shields, who tied the franchise record with 12 strikeouts in eight innings. The mark was set by Dan Wheeler vs. the Oakland Athletics on September 12, 1999.

"He (Shields) threw the game of his life so this is unacceptable," Stokes said. "They worked too hard for me to do that with one out and give up four runs. It's terrible."

In the bottom half, Indians closer Joe Borowski struck out two in a perfect ninth for his seventh save.

With the rally, Cleveland improved to 7-3 at Tropicana Field since 2005. Tampa Bay, on the other hand, lost for the fourth time in its last five games.

"It's difficult," Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "We did so many things well today including the starting pitching. Shields was magnificent.

"When you get the lead like that, to not hold on, that is a hard one. We've had several holds this year. Obviously it's something we've talked about this year ad nauseum in regard to finishing off games."

Cleveland did get to Shields early, as Jhonny Peralta hit a two-run homer in the second. However, the 25-year-old righthander settled down to yield two hits and a walk, striking out the side in order in the fifth en route to his career-high total.

"I didn't have a great bullpen today," Shields said. "I went in just trying to get better than the last game and it went pretty well.

"I think my breaking ball was my most important pitch today. I was getting it over for strikes, getting it low in the zone and making them to chase it. All in all, it was a pretty good game for me."

The Devil Rays tied the score at 2-2 in the sixth on a solo home run by Carlos Pena and pulled ahead on an RBI single by B.J. Upton off Tom Mastny (1-0) in the eighth.

Tampa Bay added to its ill-fated lead later in the frame when Dioner Navarro scored on a wild pitch by Mastny.

The clutch home run was one of four hits for the Indians, who tied a season high with 13 strikeouts. They also did that in an 8-7 victory against the Chicago White Sox on April 4.

Cleveland righthander Jake Westbrook also started that game against the White Sox. In this one, Westbrook allowed four runs - three earned - and four hits in seven innings.