Blue Jays 7 - 1 Guardians
Final
  for this game

Indians hope to contain Bautista, secure split with Blue Jays

Jul 10, 2011 - 2:39 PM

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(Sports Network) - The Cleveland Indians need a victory today to earn a split of a four-game home series with the Toronto Blue Jays, who have captured back- to-back wins at Progressive Field.

Toronto has won the last two meetings to move to 44-47 overall, 11 games off the pace in the AL East.

As for Cleveland, it is clinging to a half-game lead in the AL Central.

The good news for Toronto's Brett Cecil is that he threw a complete game in his most recent outing against Boston. Unfortunately, he surrendered three runs and didn't get enough run support to avoid defeat. The lefty is now 1-4 on the season with a lofty 6.37 ERA and has been inconsistent at best.

Cecil is 1-0 lifetime versus Cleveland with a 1.00 ERA in four appearances.

Speaking of the Indians, they will send Carlos Carrasco to the bump to oppose Cecil. Carrasco is 8-5 with a 3.95 ERA, and his numbers were certainly better before Tuesday's poor performance against the Yankees. In that tilt, the righty lasted only four innings, scattering 10 hits and six earned runs.

Carrasco has never faced Toronto in his young career.

On Saturday, Jose Bautista belted his second homer of the game in the 10th inning, a solo blast that lifted the Blue Jays to a 5-4 win over the Indians.

Bautista now has an MLB-leading 31 home runs, breaking the Blue Jays' franchise record for homers before the All-Star break, which George Bell set with 29 in 1987. Bautista also is the first AL player to have at least 30 first-half homers since Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees had 30 in 2007.

Adam Lind added three hits and one RBI for the Blue Jays, who have won the last two games of this four-game series after dropping the opener on Travis Hafner's walk-off grand slam on Thursday.

Jon Rauch (3-3) suffered his third blown save of the year when Travis Buck ripped an RBI double to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, but was bailed out by Bautista. Shawn Camp retired the side in order in the bottom of the 10th for his first save of 2011.

Grady Sizemore clubbed a two-run homer for the Indians and Matt LaPorta added an RBI in defeat.

Chris Perez (2-4) gave up the deciding home run.

Cleveland took two of three from the Blue Jays earlier in the year and has won nine of its last 13 against them despite the last two losses.

The Indians are 15-13 against AL East competition, while the Jays are 15-11 against AL Central opponents.






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