Cliff Lee finished strong with his first nine-inning complete game and the Cleveland Indians capped an unfulfilling season with a 6-3 victory over Tampa Bay on Sunday, completing a four-game sweep of the Devil Rays.
Lee (14-11) allowed three runs and seven hits and went nine innings for the first time in his career. He was credited with a complete game on July 18, 2005, a 6-2 win over Kansas City that was stopped after five innings by rain.
The left-hander went 4-1 in six starts since Sept. 2. He couldn't match his 18-5 record of 2005, and the Indians didn't improve their win of last season either.
Cleveland wasn't expecting this October to end after just one game.
The Indians opened the year brimming with confidence after winning 93 times a year ago and coming in second to the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. However, following a 6-1 start, early season pitching problems doomed them and Cleveland finished fourth behind Chicago, Minnesota and Detroit.
Unlike last season, when they dropped two of three to the Devil Rays during a 1-6, final-week collapse, the Indians swept four from Tampa for the first time, went 8-1 down the stretch and ended up 78-84 _ their third-worst record since 1995.
The Devil Rays were bad even by their atrocious standards.
Their 3-36 record in road games since July 1 is the worst over that span in major league history. Tampa Bay, which went 22-51 after the all-star break, is also the first team to lose 100 games and have a winning record at home.
Jhonny Peralta had two RBIs off rookie Jason Hammel (0-6) and Shin-Soo Choo for the Indians.
Damon Hollins hit a solo homer and Greg Norton a two-run shot for Tampa Bay.
Leading 3-1, the Indians caught a lucky break in the third when Hollins lost a catchable fly to deep centre in the sun.
Jason Michaels led off with a towering shot that Hollins settled under but couldn't locate while shielding his eyes with his glove. The ball dropped in, and Michaels hustled to third with a generous triple.
Blake followed by lifting a fly to left-centre that seemed to fool Hollins, who got a bad jump and then had to fight the sun again before making the catch below his waist. Michaels tagged and scored to make it 4-1.
Cleveland added two more runs in the sixth on back-to-back RBI doubles by Joe Inglett and Andy Marte to chase Hammel, who only made it through six innings once in nine starts this season.
A two-out rally that Casey Blake started with a double helped the Indians open a 3-0 lead in their first at-bat. Blake scored when Garko dropped a single into right for his 45th RBI in 50 games for the converted catcher, who spent the first three months of the season at triple-A Buffalo.
Choo followed with a single and Peralta brought both runners home with a double into the right-field corner.
Hollins opened the game by hitting Lee's third pitch over the wall in left field for his 15th homer.
Norton's shot to left in the eighth was his career-high 17th.
Notes: Tampa Bay is 579-876 (.398) in its nine-year history, easily the worst overall record of any of the 14 expansion teams. This was the D-Rays' third 100-loss season in the past six. ... The Indians' season was a smash in one respect as they hit 14 grand slams, tying them with the 2000 Oakland Athletics for the most in a major league history. ... Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford sat out his second straight game. He finished batting .305 and led the AL with 16 triples. ... The Indians matched a season-high with six doubles.
