Blake homers twice as Tribe hand Rays 100th defeat

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Jake Westbrook takes pride in his consistency for the Cleveland Indians.

Westbrook allowed one run in seven innings and Casey Blake hit two solo homers to help the Indians beat Tampa Bay 6-1 Saturday night, handing the Devil Rays their 100th loss.

Westbrook (15-10), who took a shutout into the seventh inning, is 44-34 since moving into the starting rotation in 2004 -- topping 200 innings all three seasons.

"The innings are pretty nice," he said. "Doing that shows I've pitched deep into games and given my team a chance to win. That's what you want to do as a starting pitcher."

Indians manager Eric Wedge also praised Westbrook's consistency.

"He's been about as steady as you can be at this level," Wedge said. "He's been a shining example of that."

Ty Wigginton broke up the shutout with an RBI double in the seventh. Westbrook gave up five hits, struck out six and walked one. The right-hander retired the side in order four times in the first six innings and threw double play balls in the third and fourth.

"I try to get ground balls and let my defense do the rest," Westbrook said. "They did a great job behind me again tonight."

Tampa Bay became the first team in major league history to lose 100 games in a season despite having a winning record at home. The Devil Rays, who went 41-40 at Tropicana Field, are 20-60 on the road -- including 3-32 away from home since July 1.

Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon is trying to look at the future, rather than his team reaching 100 losses for the third time in the last six seasons.

"Nobody likes losing 100 games, but it's what you make it out to be," he said. "There's not much difference between losing 99 games and losing 100 games. I'm not going to let this change my focus."

Delmon Young and Greg Norton singled to open the seventh before Wigginton's double snapped the Devil Rays' 0-for-25 slump with runners in scoring position this series. Westbrook, who threw 111 pitches, retired the next three hitters to get out of the inning.

"He had a good sinker and slider," Tampa Bay third baseman B.J. Upton said. "He kept us off-balance, and it showed."

Shin-Soo Choo led off the second with his third homer on a 1-2 pitch from Jae Seo (1-8). Blake, who entered the game in a 3-for-29 slump, homered off Seo in the fourth and off Brian Meadows in the eighth.

"I wanted to do something positive before the season ended," Blake said. "I've been scuffling about as bad as you can the last few weeks. The month of September didn't do me a whole lot of favors."

Both of Blake's homers were to right-center.

"I had a favorable wind," he joked.

"It was great to see him hit the ball the way he did," Wedge said. "He had some good swings. He looked like his normal self."

Ryan Garko added RBI singles in the third and fifth for Cleveland, giving him 35 RBI in 36 games since August 20. Victor Martinez also singled in a run for the Indians in the fifth.

Seo, acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 27, allowed five runs and nine hits in five innings.

Game notes
The start of the game was delayed 1 hour, 30 minutes by rain. ... LHP C.C. Sabathia, who underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Friday, was moving around on crutches in the clubhouse before Saturday night's game. Torn cartilage was removed in the 35-minute procedure. ... Martinez has hit safely in 15 of his last 17 games, batting .384 (23-for-60) with a homer and 11 RBI. ... OF Carl Crawford, who leads the league with 16 triples and has been hitting over .300 since June 11, wasn't in the lineup Saturday. ... Maddon said OF Rocco Baldelli will probably be out of the lineup for Sunday's season finale.