Morton notches 10 strikeouts as Rays beat Indians
Charlie Morton struck out a season-high 10 batters and Ji-Man Choi and Tommy Pham each belted a two-run homer as the visiting Tampa Bay Rays posted a 6-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday.
Brandon Lowe added his team-leading 11th homer to go along with an RBI double for the Rays, who handed Cleveland its fifth loss in its last six games.
Carlos Santana belted a solo homer and Leonys Martin had an RBI single for the Indians, who saw manager Terry Francona ejected for the first time since 2016 after arguing a called strike on a pitch that hit Jose Ramirez in the sixth inning.
Morton (5-0) allowed one run on three hits in six innings to improve to 8-0 during an 18-start unbeaten streak that dates back to Aug. 17.
Pham extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a two-out single in the fifth inning and Choi deposited a 2-1 fastball from Carlos Carrasco (4-5) over the wall in left field to give Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead. Choi's homer was his fourth of the season and first since May 10.
Lowe pushed the Rays' advantage to 4-1 in the sixth inning after sending a 1-0 changeup from Carrasco over the wall in center field.
Pham recorded his sixth straight game with an extra-base hit when he launched a two-run shot in the seventh inning. Pham's eighth homer of the season spelled the end of the evening for Carrasco, who has been taken deep nine times in May and 13 times this season.
The teams traded solo runs in the second inning as Lowe doubled to deep center field to plate Avisail Garcia, while Martin's shift-beating single to shallow left field scored former Ray Jake Bauers.
Cleveland's Josh Smith struck out three and surrendered three hits in 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief in his major league debut.
The start of the game was delayed 2 hours and 48 minutes by the threat of inclement weather in the forecast.
--Field Level Media
