Evan Longoria’s homer, pitching leads Rays’ to 10 over

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Sometimes, it takes a village.

Six pitchers combined for the latest victory by the red-hot Tampa Bay Rays, a 4-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians. It was the 40th win in 70 games for the Rays, who hold a one-game lead in the AL East.

Erasmus Rameriz started for the Rays but had to leave in the fourth inning with a groin injury. Five Rays’ relievers gave up only one runs the rest of the way.

Tampa Bay got all the runs it would need in the first inning when Evan Longoria hit a three-run homer. He drove in Kevin Kiermaier, who walked, and Joey Butler, who had a single. Corey Kubler took the loss for Cleveland, his fourth straight. He is only 3-9 on the season after winning the Cy Young Award with an 18-9 record last season.

The Rays are now 10 games over .500 for the first time this season.

Gary Shelton is one of the most recognized and honored sportswriters in the history of the state. He has won the APSE's national columnist of the year twice and finished in the top 10 eight times. He was named the Florida Sportswriter of the Year six times. Gary joined SaintPetersBlog in the spring, helping to bring a sports presence to the website. Over his time in sports writing, Gary has covered 29 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics, Final Fours, Masters, Wimbledons and college national championships. He was there when the Bucs won a Super Bowl, when the Lightning won a Stanley Cup and when the Rays went to a World Series. He has seen Florida, FSU and Miami all win national championships, and he covered Bear Bryant, Bobby Bowden and Don Shula along the way. He and his wife Janet have four children: Eric, Kevin, K.C. and Tori. To contact, visit [email protected].