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 7th 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 9th.
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 2nd and ended up on 3rd 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!
