Jayson Nix, Shelley Duncan and Jhonny Peralta homer as the Indians send Fausto Carmona to the All-Star game with a victory.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Fausto Carmona prepared for the All-Star game in good fashion Friday night as his teammates delivered a thunderclap of homers in a 9-3 victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field.
The victory ended Tampa Bay's six-game winning streak.
Jayson Nix isn't swinging the hammer of Thor, but he's getting close. Nix hit his fifth homer in five games, a one-run shot down the left field line off James Shields in the fifth for a 3-1 lead. It was Nix's sixth homer in 14 games since joining the Indians on June 24.
Shelly Duncan and Jhonny Peralta followed Nix's example shortly afterward.
Duncan hit a leadoff homer in the seventh for a 4-2 lead. Peralta delivered the finisher with a three-run homer in the eighth. For Peralta, who just missed a three-run homer Thursday night, it was sixth of the season.
Carmona (8-7) allowed two runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings. He threw a season-high 116 pitches, walking four and striking out four.
He left with a 4-1 lead in the seventh, but Chris Perez endangered it. Perez relieved with two out and one on and proceeded to walk three straight batters to force home Carl Crawford and make it a 4-2 game. Perez ended the tension by striking out John Jaso.
The Indians responded with a four-run eighth. Carlos Santana hit a leadoff double, but Travis Hafner struck out. Andy Sonnanstine, who pitched at Kent State, relieved and the Tribe went to work. Austin Kearns singled and Peralta homered to left for a 7-2 lead.
Doubles by Matt LaPorta and Jason Donald accounted for the last run of the inning. LaPorta, back in the lineup for the first time since Monday because of a head injury, had three hits.
Kearns doubled home the Tribe's final run in the ninth. They finished with 13 hits.
Shields (7-9) is 0-4 lifetime against the Indians.
The Indians unnerved Shields with a 31-pitch second inning. He hit Hafner to open the inning and lost a 10-pitch duel to Peralta, who singled to left with one out. After LaPorta singled home Hafner for a 1-0 lead, Shields balked Peralta to third and LaPorta to second and threw a wild pitch as the hustling Peralta scored.
Carlos Pena gave the Rays their final run of the night on a long homer to center field off Frank Herrmann. It was his 18th homer.