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Lee, Indians shackle Rays

Jul 12, 2008 - 3:16 AM By Todd Krepop PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Cliff Lee ended his spectacular first half with an exclamation point.

Lee pitched six scoreless innings to make his final case to start the All-Star Game and the Cleveland Indians shut out the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-0, on Friday night.

Jhonny Peralta homered and drove in three runs and Ben Francisco had an RBI to go along with three hits as Cleveland defeated Tampa Bay for the 11th consecutive game at Cleveland.

Tampa Bay's losing streak reached a season-high five games as the Rays remain one win away from having the best record in baseball at the All-Star break after having the worst record the previous year.

Lee (12-2) scattered five hits while striking out seven and walking only one batter to lower his ERA to 2.31.

"I still feel like there are things I can do better," Lee said. "Saying that, I am really happy what I have done. I am not shocked or surprised, though. Confidence has never been an issue for me."

It wasn't an easy six innings for Lee, who he allowed a baserunner in every inning. But the lefthander kept the Rays off the board in his bid to become just the fourth Indian to start the Midsummer Classic.

"I am just happy to be going there," Lee said. "If they picked me to start, I would be honored. If I was asked to start, that would be icing on the cake."

The Rays had a chance to score in the second when rookie Evan Longoria led off with a double and moved to third on a groundout. But Lee induced consecutive pop-ups to get out of the jam, continuing the Rays' woes with runners in scoring position.

"It's tough to keep the other team from scoring when the leadoff guy is on base every inning," Lee said.

During its five-game losing streak, Tampa Bay has a woeful two hits in 40 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

"When you don't hit, the whole team looks bad," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "When you don't score runs, you put a lot of pressure on your pitching staff."

Peralta's two-run homer in the third extended the Indians' lead to 3-0. After Francisco lined a two-out double into the gap in left-center, Peralta followed and served James Shields' 2-1 offering the opposite way for his 15th home run.

"I don't think (Shields) likes me too much," said Peralta, who is 5-for-11 with three home runs against the righthander. "I feel comfortable when I face him."

Francisco and Peralta also teamed up in the first to give the Indians an early lead. Francisco bounced a single off of the glove of third baseman Longoria. Peralta then lined a routine ball to right field, but Jonny Gomes got a bad jump on the ball and it went over his head for an RBI double.

Francisco drove in a run of his own in the fifth, following Jamey Carroll's one-out single with an RBI double off the top of wall in left-center to extend the Indians' lead to 4-0.

"Benny had big hits for us all night long," Indians manager Eric Wedge said.

Carroll followed Grady Sizemore's leadoff double in the seventh with an RBI single back up the middle to end Shields' night.

Shields (7-6) saw his three-game winning streak snapped as he allowed five runs on 10 hits in six-plus innings.

"I felt I pitched well," Shields said. "I can count four hits that easily could be outs. That's going to happen. It's part of the game. I probably made about four bad pitches."