The Tampa Bay Rays take the series from the Chicago White Sox on a walk off home run by Gabe Gross in the 10th. The Rays win 3 out of 4 from the AL Central leading White Sox. Andy Sonnanstine started the game a bit shaky but calmed down to ring up some key strikeouts with runners in scoring position. The bullpen was flawless once again with no walks being issued all afternoon to go along with 8 total strikeouts. JP Howell walks away the victor bringing his record to 4-0.
The story of this night was 3 players who spend most of their time as cheerleaders. Gabe Gross, Jonny Gomes and Shawn Riggans all came off the bench to be productive and eventually the heroes of the game. Gabe Gross drove in 3 runs including hitting a 2-run scoring triple and hitting the game winning walk off homerun in the bottom of the 10th. Gomes and Riggans set the table for Gross by hitting a single and double respectively in front of Gross’ triple.
The Rays ended the afternoon having collected 8 hits and 2 walks. A diving catch by Gomes and another by Crawford (late inning replacement) highlighted the defense.
The Trop was packed with 24,720 screaming Ray’s fans. A small contingent of Sox supporters attempted on several occasions to being some sort of chat but were quickly drowned out by the scores of Boos from the Rays faithful. Great atmosphere today at The Trop! Keep it coming Tampa Bay fans – prove to the baseball community that we do have a fan base here!
My home run of the game definately goes to: Gabe Gross. Fantastic performance!
My strike out of the game goes to: the top of our lineup who could not score a runner from 3rd base with no one out. Are you kidding me??!!
Rays are off Monday heading to a huge match up with the Boston Red Sox. Check your local listings for game information Tuesday evening.
