Four-run sixth sinks Bieber, Tribe

Rays 5, Indians 3 the final month of the regular season, smiled and waved to his new fans.

Donaldson was expected to arrive in Cleveland in the early afternoon but didn’t make it until closer to game time.

The Indians have a commanding lead and will easily win their third consecutive American League Central crown, barring a disastrous September of historic proportions. How they configure their lineup, and the readiness of several key players — Donaldson, Trevor Bauer, Cody Allen and Jason Kipnis, to name a few — will take precedence over the next several weeks.

As for the game, the Indians led for much of the night until the Rays mounted a sixth-inning rally. With starter Shane Bieber (8-3) still on the mound after five scoreless innings and holding a two-run lead, the Rays finally cracked the code.

Brandon Lowe led off the inning with a single, Joey Wendle doubled and Matt Duffy tied it with a two-run double. Two batters later, Tommy Pham doubled to put the Rays on top 3-2. Keven Kiermaier capped the rally with an RBI single.

Earlier, the Indians took a 2-0 lead against Rays starter Blake Snell (17-5). Brandon Guyer reached on an error, and Melky Cabrera and Yan Gomes followed with back-to-back RBI doubles.

The Rays loaded the bases against reliever Jon Edwards in the eighth on two walks and a single, but he escaped the jam by inducing Jesus Sucre to ground out to third.

In the ninth, Lowe rocketed Josh Tomlin’s first pitch of the night off the right-field foul pole for a home run.

Kipnis, who is now in limbo after the trade to acquire Donaldson, pinch-hit for Guyer in the bottom of the inning and dropped his bat with some extra style after he drilled a solo home run off the right-field foul pole. That made it 5-3, but Rays reliever Adam Kolarek induced Yonder Alonso into a weak groundout to end the game.