Indians Top Devil Rays

Dave Burba spoke for himself, but just as well could have speaking for all pitchers puzzled by the way baseballs are flying out of ballparks these days.

The Cleveland right-hander beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 6-4 Saturday, despite giving up a pair of homers to Greg Vaughn one of them the third-longest in the brief history of Tropicana Field.

"These guys hitting home runs nowadays, it's kind of sickening. You're out there, you throw a decent pitch, the guy hits a bomb, and you're wondering how in the hell does he hit that pitch. Not only does he hit it, but he hits it 450 feet," Burba said.

Of course, power does work both ways for pitchers. Burba (1-0) was helped by Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome, who smacked the 199th home runs of their careers five pitches apart.

The sluggers remained tied for sixth on Cleveland's career list, connecting off right-hander Steve Trachsel (1-1) with two outs in the fifth inning to give the Indians a 6-1 lead.

Ramirez's two-run shot was his first of the season. Thome has three and homered for the second straight game at Tropicana Field to keep pace in the team record book. Trais Fryman also had a two-run double off Trachsel, giving him five RBIs in the series.

Vaughn homered twice and drove in four runs, including a 462-foot solo blast to deep left center that was the third longest in the three-year history of the Devil Rays' hitter-friendly, domed stadium.

Tampa Bay's Fred McGriff hit a 468-foot homer against Kansas City last May 5, and Oakland's Jason Giambi hit a 463-foot blast on Sept. 12.

Vaughn's second homer was a three-run shot to left that trimmed Cleveland's lead to 6-4 in the sixth. It was the 25th multihomer game for Vaughn, who signed with the Devil Rays after hitting 95 home runs the past two years for the San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds.

"I tried to sneak a fastball in on his hands, trying to get a ground ball or jam him and get a little popup," Burba said. "He popped it up all right. The other five innings I'll take any day."

Vaughn finished 2-for-4, but wanted more.

"The name of the game is to win. It doesn't matter if I have a good day or not. That's not important. The important thing is we have to find a way to turn this around and start playing better baseball," Vaughn said.

"They're a great team," he added. "To be able to go out there and play with them, you've got to play harder than they do for nine innings. All of us have to ask more from ourselves."

Burba, hampered during spring training by a strained left hamstring, allowed seven hits in six innings and left a two-run left for the bullpen to protect. Scott Kamienicki gave up a two-out double in the seventh, but Paul Shuey got out of the jam when he struck out McGriff.

Steve Karsay pitched the ninth for his second save.

Trachsel pitched seven scoreless innings in Tampa Bay's 7-0 season-opening win over Minnesota, but this time looked more like the pitcher who lost a major league-high 18 games with the Chicago Cubs last season.

Fryman's two-run double gave Cleveland a 2-0 lead in the second, and the Indians added a run in the third when Trachsel's wild pitch allowed Omar Vizquel to score. The right-hander allowed nine hits, walked one and struck out four while throwing 108 pitches in just 4 2-3 innings.

"He wasn't on top of his game," Devil Rays manager Larry Rothschild said. "He used a lot of pitches early, and it caught up with him."

Ramirez took over sole possession of sixth on the Indians' career list when his homer carried 390 feet to left field. Thome outdid Ramirez when he drove a 2-2 pitch onto the roof of te Batter's Eye restaurant in center field.

The ball traveled an estimated 448 feet, and Thome joined McGriff as the only players who have reached the roof of the restaurant during a game.

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