The Rays returned home to victory Friday night with a 7-3 win over in state rivals the Florida Marlins.  Andy Sonnanstine had a shaky first inning allowing 2 runs then settled in to scatter 6 hits over 5 1/3 innings to earn his 7^th victory of this season.  Andy completed his line by racking up 5 strike outs and 0 walks.  The bullpen did an outstanding job supporting Andy’s start by pitching a combined 3 2/3 innings giving up only 1 hit and adding 4 more Ks to the night’s pitching line.  Troy Percival was activated from the DL prior to the start of the game and pitched a 1-2-3 9^th.

Eric Hinske jump started the offense with a 2 run double in the bottom of the first and the offense never looked back from there.  The RBI producing 2B machine included Gabe Gross and Akinori Iwamura.  Jason Bartlett had a nice night at the dish also going 3 for 3 with 2 runs scored, RBI and 2 stolen bases.  Along with Bartlett’s stolen base, Cliff Floyd swiped 2^nd and ended up on 3^rd on the throwing error by catcher Matt Treaner. 

The key to this victory was multi layered.  First the pitching staff allowed 0 walks.  The Fish hit the ball well as evidenced by the 3 2B and 1 3B they bagged off Sonnanstine.  Not allowing free passes prevented scoring opportunities.  Nice job pitching staff! 

Second, the Rays were aggressive on the base paths.  Several of those stolen bases led to Rays runs on the next pitch or 2.  They have the speed, and even those that don’t have the speed can properly pick the time.  This places this team in a great situation to win!

Third, great defense once again.  A few outstanding plays and the routine plays were made to look routine.  Keep it up guys!

See you at The Trop!
 

James Shields went the distance in a 6-1 loss to the Angels Tuesday night.  Shields allowed 4 runs in the first inning to put the Rays down for good.  Shields line for the night was an unimpressive 8 innings pitched with 10 hits, 6 ER, 9 K and 2 homeruns.  The most impressive stat in this start was no walks allowed!  Shields will now begin to serve his 6 game suspension and is not scheduled to pitch again until next Tuesday for the opening game of the series with the Chicago Cubs.  Let’s hope he reflects on the last few starts he’s had as they have been average at best.  The Rays really need to be able to count on him to pitch above average and go deep into his starts.   

Angels SP Jared Weaver mowed through the Rays batters allowing only 4 hits in 8 innings pitched.  The only blemish on his day was an 8^th inning HR he gave up to Gabe Gross. 

Along with Gross, Evan Longoria had another good night at the dish.  Longoria was 2 for 3 with 2 2B.  He is certainly impressing his hometown crowd!

The series finale is today at 3:30 EST – not TV but you can catch it on the radio (1250 AM WHNZ local).  The Rays return home to face the Florida Marlins beginning on Friday night – get your tickets early!!

The Tampa Bay Rays walked away 5-4 winners last night against the Texas Rangers guaranteeing them the series victory.  The victory wasn’t one of the smoothest by the Rays bullpen but Dan Wheeler managed to shut down Milton Bradley in the bottom of the 9^th inning with the tying run standing 90 ft away securing the win.  Andy Sonnanstine pitched well allowing only 6 H and 6 earned runs in 5 innings, a vast improvement from his last 2 starts.  JP Howell earned the victory and Wheeler notched his second save.

Willie Aybar and Gabe Gross swung the big bats for the Rays.  Aybar was 1 for 4 but his one hit was a 2 RBI effort with 2 outs to put the Rays up for good – something the Rays have failed to do recently.  Gabe Gross led the scoring charge by connecting for a 2-run home run in the 2^nd inning. 

Tonight the Rays finish the 3 game series in Texas with Matt Garza (4-2, 4.21) taking the hill against D Mathis (1-1, 9.00).  They will then head to LA to take on the Angels in a 3 game series before heading home for an exciting inter-league game versus their Florida brethren The Fish. 

Troy Percival gave up a home run to Hideki Matsui in the bottom of the ninth inning to blow the save, but the Rays were still able to come away with a win over the Yankees by the score of 2-1.  Gabe Gross singled in Jonny Gomes for the winning in the bottom of the eleventh inning.

The Rays first run of the game came in the fourth inning when Eric Hinske had a rbi single.

J.P. Howell improved to 3-0 on the season as he pitched in extra innings.  Edwin Jackson the starting pitcher for the Rays tossed seven innings of five hit baseball to take the no decision in the game.  Dan Wheeler pitched a scoreless inning of relief as well.

It was nice to see th Rays come back after Percival blew the game.  That is how you pick up your teammates!  Rays Blog

Carl Crawford hit a sac fly in the 13th inning to give the Tampa Bay Rays a one run lead in the game but hey were not done because Dioner Navarro hit a grandslam to put the Rays up five runs.  After blowing the lead in the ninth inning, the Rays came back to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-3.

Navarro led the Rays with the four rbi from the grandslam.  Gabe Gross had two rbi while Carlos Pena and Crawford both had one rbi in the game.

Starting pitcher Edwin Jackson pitched eight great inning as he only gave up six hits and no runs.  He was in line to pick up the win until Troy Percival blew the save by allowing three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning.  J.P. Howell ended up picking up the win for the Rays.

Great win for the Rays after they blew the game and then came back.  That is what good teams will do!  Rays Blog