The Tampa Bay Rays inched a bit closer to their first ever AL East Division crown with a 4-2 victory Monday night over the Baltimore Orioles. That coupled with Boston’s loss to Cleveland takes the magic number down to 4 games! How exciting is this Ray fans?!
David Price made his first career start Monday night pitching 5 1/3 innings. He showed great poise on the mound. He did run himself into trouble in a few innings by allowing 4 hits and 3 free passes. The defense did not help his cause by committing an error and allowing a run to score. Evan Longoria committed the fielding error giving him 12 for the season and 3 in his last 2 games. Longo may be still trying to regain his feet after his stint on the DL. Price gave up 2 runs – 1 ER – and garnered a no decision. The good news is that Price showed great command of his pitches at key points in the game. He also pitched ahead in the count to almost all of the hitters he faced. He really gave us a glimpse of what he will bring to the starting rotation in the very near future.
This game was very quiet and unemotional. The offensive push came from Jason Bartlett who was 2 for 3 with 2 doubles. He knocked in the go ahead run with a double in the 7th. The other 2 runs were generated off the bat of Akinori Iwamura. The Rays looked sluggish again offensively. They only managed 3 hits in this game off a very poor pitching staff. The bright side to the lackluster offensive performance was the Rays had some quality at bats and showed patience at the dish. This patience translated into 8 free passes by Baltimore pitching.
Tuesday will have the Rays in a doubleheader against these Orioles. Mitch Talbot will toe the rubber for his first MLB start in the 2nd game as James Shields will go in the first game. It will be nice to see the Rays turn up the offense in support of these great SP!
Go Rays!
