"Jhonny Peralta is becoming the scourge of the American League, maybe all of baseball.

Can he be stopped? Maybe teams can only hope to contain him. Peralta represented the best news for the Indians' 10-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

In an eventful afternoon, Peralta's achievements stood out.

He singled in the first inning, homered in the third, doubled and scored in the fifth, doubled home a run in the sixth and led off the ninth with a single. It marked the second time this year and in his career that he has had five hits in a game.

But Peralta's big game against the Rays is only the tip of the iceberg. In his past 44 games, Peralta is batting .360 with 23 doubles, eight home runs and 39 RBI, lifting his average from .226 to .287 with 19 homers and 64 RBI.

''What a great night for Jhonny,'' Indians manager Eric Wedge said of the shortstop. ''He was squaring up everything. He's really been strong for us in the middle of the order. He's matured as a major-league hitter and taken over the middle [cleanup] of our lineup.''

If it was a grand day for Peralta, it was the pits for Ryan Garko, who was benched in the bottom half of the second inning for not running out a ground ball (he thought was foul) in the top of the inning.

''I really thought it was foul,'' said Garko, who was the designated hitter Wednesday. ''But I made a terrible mistake, and I have to be accountable for it. It will never happen again.''

Garko has been struggling at the plate all season, and Wedge hasn't hid his dissatisfaction with the first baseman, who seemed to be turning into a world-class run producer the past two seasons.

If Wedge's day was complicated by yanking Garko, it was made more complex later. In the sixth, Asdrubal Cabrera jogged up the steps of the dugout to take his place at second base and sprained his ankle."