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Indians, Rays play rubber match at the Trop

May 29, 2011 - 2:34 PM (Sports Network) - Justin Masterson tries for his first win in six starts this afternoon when the Cleveland Indians play the rubber match of their three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

Masterson opened the year by winning his first five starts and pitching to a 2.18 earned run average. He has gone 0-2 in his five starts since, but has only seen his ERA rise to 2.50, as he has allowed more than two earned runs just once since his winning streak.

The sinkerballing right-hander did not get a decision on Monday against Boston, as he allowed two runs and four hits in 7 2/3 innings of his team's 3-2 win.

Masterson had his worst start of the year against the Rays back on May 12 when he surrendered five runs in 5 2/3 innings. For his career against Tampa he is 1-5 with a 6.28 ERA in 10 games, six of which have been starts.

Cleveland bounced back on Saturday after a loss in Friday's opener, as pinch- hitter Shelley Duncan and Orlando Cabrera both singled in a pair during the eighth inning, when the Indians capitalized on a huge error by Ben Zobrist to pull out a 7-3 win.

Matt LaPorta belted his sixth homer of the year, while Michael Brantley had a pair of hits and scored twice for Cleveland, which snapped a three-game slide.

Carlos Carrasco (4-2) allowed seven hits and a pair of runs over six innings to win his third consecutive start.

James Shields (5-3) struck out eight batters over seven innings, but lost six days after tying the franchise-record for strikeouts in a game with 13 against Florida. The right-hander fell to 1-5 in his career against the Indians.

"He left a couple of pitches up and we took advantage of it," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "It's always huge because once he gets in a rhythm with those pitches he has it would have been tough, as it proved to be after that first inning."

Evan Longoria, batting leadoff, homered for the Rays, losers in six of their last eight games. Longoria had been 3-for-his-last-25 before breaking out with two hits at the top of the lineup on Saturday.

Heading to the hill for Tampa this afternoon will be rookie right-hander Jeremy Hellickson, who is 5-3 with a 3.14 ERA. Hellickson had a four-start winning streak stopped on Monday in Detroit, despite another solid effort that saw him allow two runs and four hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Hellickson has never faced the Indians.

Tampa Bay won two of three meetings at Cleveland from May 10-12 this season and is 10-4 in the previous 13 encounters between the two teams. The loss on Saturday was just the Rays' second in their last 11 home games against the Indians