The Tampa Bay Rays failed to get the sweep of the Kansas City Royals when they lost the last game of the series 7-4 in 10 innings.  Matt Garza pitched 6 2/3 but was in and out of trouble all day.  He gave up 9 hits, 2BB, 3 ER and had 5 K’s.  He did manage to wriggle out of trouble a few times to keep the Rays close.  Dan Wheeler gave up 4 runs (3 earned, E5) on 2 HR and 1 IBB in the top of the 10^th to seal the victory for the Royals.                                                       

The pitching was good enough to win this game.  It was the offense that struggled mightily.  The Rays banged out 11 hits and 4 BB and failed to get the timely hit when needed.  Several times they had multiple runners in scoring position and failed to advance the runners.  Overall as a team they stranded 12 runners.  They also managed to strike out 12 times.  Carlos Pena tied the game in the bottom of the 9^th with a blast to right field to give the Rays hope.  But their hopes were quickly dashed when the top of the 10^th began with an unlikely Evan Longoria throwing error allowing the runner to advance to 2^nd.  The Royals never looked back….

The Rays now take their show to NY to face the Yankees in a short 2 game series.  Here are your pitching matchups: 

July 8 – Scott Kazmir (7-3, 2.63) vs. Sidney Ponson (5-1, 4.19)

July 9 – Edwin Jackson (5-6, 4.08) vs.  TBA

The lack of situational hitting MUST improve for the Rays to continue to lead the AL East.  The lack of production will “sting” them at some point and could prove to be the hurdle they must jump to get to the next level.  This game is the perfect example of what can potentially happen, we lost to a bad team in the Royals – what do you think would happen if we were playing a good team say in October…… 

Now, go turn on ESPN and route for the Twins!