American League Game Summary - Tampa Bay at Cleveland
Cleveland, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Zach Walters and David Murphy each went 2- for-4 with a home run to lead the Cleveland Indians to a 7-2 season-ending win over the Tampa Bay Rays from Progressive Field.
Walters added a run-scoring double and Jose Ramirez finished with three hits and an RBI for Cleveland (85-77), which broke out with 14 hits as a team after mustering just one run over the series' first two games.
The Indians finished with a winning record for a second consecutive year, the first time they've done so in back-to-back seasons since 2000-01. However, a second straight postseason trip won't happened after the club was eliminated earlier in the week.
"We played meaningful games all the way until the last two," said Indians outfielder Michael Bourn. "We gave it all we had. We fought. We just came up short."
T.J. House (5-3) aided the Indians' cause by holding Tampa Bay to a run on five hits over the first five innings.
Alex Cobb (10-9) wrapped up the Rays' disappointing 2014 campaign with a subpar start, with the right-hander shelled for 10 hits and four runs in six innings of work.
Sean Rodriguez paced Tampa Bay (77-85), which closed out its first losing season since 2007, by going 2-for-4 with a solo home run.
Both teams had their power strokes working early on, as Rodriguez led off the top of the second inning with a towering blast into the left-field seats and Murphy began the bottom of the frame with a homer of his own. Two batters later, Walters launched a Cobb changeup over the wall in right to give Cleveland a 2-1 edge.
"Cobber's stuff, you didn't see as much swing and miss, so obviously there was something not quite right," Rays manager Joe Maddon said of Cobb. "Two homers tells you something's not quite right."
House kept the Rays off the board over the remainder of his stint, and the Indians extended the lead when Tyler Holt belted a leadoff double in the bottom of the fifth, moved a base on a groundout and crossed the plate on a Ramirez sacrifice fly.
Brandon Guyer doubled for the Rays in the sixth and later scored on Evan Longoria's sac fly to bring Tampa Bay back within one, but Walters doubled in Murphy during Cleveland's half of the inning to increase the margin to 4-2.
The Indians then broke open the contest in the seventh. After singles by J.B. Shuck and Ramirez off reliever Jeff Beliveau and a walk loaded the bases, Carlos Santana laced a single to right to plate a pair of runners. Cleveland's final run came via Longoria's throwing error on a grounder off the bat of Jesus Aguilar.