Asdruba Cabra is scheduled to start rehab assignment Monday, while Matt LaPorta is back in the lineup tonight.
Updated: 9:38 p.m.
St. Petersburg, Fla. -- This is a daily briefing of the Indians 2010 regular season. The Indians play Tampa Bay tonight in the second game of a four-game series at Tropicana Field.
Tropicana Field's dimensions: Left field line 315 feet, left center field power alley 370, center field 404, right center field power alley 370 and right field foul line 322.
In game notes:
Score: Indians 4, Rays 2 through seven innings.
Shaky relief: Chris Perez relieved Fausto Carmona with one on and two out in the seventh. He proceeded to walk three straight batters to force home a run and make it 4-2. He finally struck out John Jaso to end the inning.
Leadoff shot: Shelley Duncan stretched the Indians lead to 4-1 with a leadoff homer in the seventh. James Shields was gone after one more out.
No nix on Nix: Jayson Nix gave the Indians 3-1 lead with homer off Shields in the fifth. Nix has homered six times in 14 games for the Indians. Five of those homers have come in the first five games of this seven-game trip.
Nix started the year with the White Sox where he hit one homer. It was a grand slam off Shields.
Early lead; Jhonny Peralta's 10-pitch at-bat, which ended in a single, seemed to unnerve James in the second. The Indians took a 2-0 lead as Matt LaPorta singled home Travis Hafner, Shields balked Peralta to third and LaPorta to second and then threw a wild pitch as the hustling Peralta scored. Shields threw 31 pitches in the inning.
The line: Carmona allowed two runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out four, while throwing 116 pitches. Shields allowed four runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out nine.
Pre-game notes:
Game 86: With three games left before the All-Star break, the Indians received two pieces of good news today. Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, out since May 17 with a broken left forearm, took batting practice for the first time since the injury.
Cabrera said he felt good and that he'll start a rehab assignment Monday at Class A Mahoning Valley.
"I'll play there Monday and Wednesday and then go to (Class AA) Akron," said Cabrera.
Manager Manny Acta has said Cabrera will need at least 30 at-bats before rejoining the big league club. A rehab assignment for a position player can last 20 days.
"He had no pain with his swing," said Acta.
Dr. Thomas Graham performed surgery on Cabrera. He used a titanium plate and six screws to help the forearm heal.
Matt LaPorta provided the other pieces of good news as he returned to the lineup after missing three games with a head injury suffered at first base Monday night in Arlington, Texas.
"It's going to be good to get in there and hopefully play three games before the break," said LaPorta. "If I didn't play before the break, it would have been nine days without playing before the second half started."
Break time: After Sunday's game, Acta and his wife, Cindy, will drive to their home in St. Cloud, Fla., for the break.
"I'm just going to chill," said Acta.
New addition: The Indians have hired former catcher Armando Camacaro to replace Ruben Niebla as an assistant to the Indians coaching staff. Camacaro, who played 10 years in the Indians minor league system, will warm up pitchers in the bullpen and throw batting practice.
Cacamaco retired last year and was home in Venezuela when the Indians called. Niebla, a valuable asset to pitching coach Tim Belcher and bullpen coach Scott Radinsky, injured his knee last month in Pittsburgh and needed surgery.
Lineups:
Indians (33-51): CF Michael Brantley (L), 2B Jayson Nix (R), C Carlos Santana (S), DH Travis Hafner (L), RF Austin Kearns (R), 3B Jhonny Peralta (R), 1B Matt LaPorta (R), LF Shelley Duncan (R), SS Jason Donald (R) and RHP Fausto Carmona (7-7, 3.69).
Rays (52-33): RF Ben Zobrist (S), LF Carl Crawford (L), 3B Evan Longoria (R), 1B Carlos Pena (L), DH Matt Joyce (L), C John Jaso (L), CF B.J. Upton (R), SS Reid Brignac, 2B Sean Rodriguez (R) and RHP James Shields (7-8, 4.83).
Umpires: H Jim Reynolds, 1B Tim Welke, 2B Scott Barry, 3B Mike DiMuro. Welke, crew chief.
Quote of the day: "I don't want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it," the late Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby.
Next: LHP Fausto Carmona (1-2, 5.18) vs. RHP Matt Garza (9-5, 4.30) tonight at 7:10 p.m.