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Rays 10, Orioles 5 (Game #10) [5-5]
Dreams come true, I guess. On a night that Carl Crawford had his 1,000th career hit, Carlos Pena and the Rays dominated the Orioles in the later stages of the game with eight unanswered runs in the seventh and eighth inning. Pena had two home runs and drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning to finish with six RBIs, one shy of his career high. James Shields had an uncomfortable first inning, giving up runs to Nick Markakis, Kevin Millar and Aubrey Huff. Keeping the game close, Pena hit a two-run homer to deep left center, which scored Carl Crawford. After runs by Luis Hernandez and Luke Scott in the second and sixth inning, the Rays tied the game 5-5 with another home run by Pena to deep right, scoring Crawford and Akinora Iwamura. Tampa Bay continued the hitting assault in the eighth inning with four hits and five runs. Nathan Haynes singled to left field, while Jason Bartlett's bunt to advance Haynes was a pop out caught by relief pitcher Dennis Sarfate. Haynes took matters into his own hands, stealing second. After three consecutive walks (Iwamura, Crawford and Pena), which scored Haynes, Greg Aquino, the fourth Oriole pitcher of the game, finished what would be the final offensive inning for the Rays. B.J. Upton singled to center, scoring Iwamura and Crawford, but Pena was tagged out at third. Upton advanced to second base on the throw. Eric Hinske doubled to deep center, scoring Upton. After a Jonny Gomes walk, Shawn Riggans singled to left, scoring Hinske. Aquino struck out Haynes to end the memorable inning. Speaking of the top five again, collectively they were 10 for 20 with 8 RBIs. Maintaining a .500 batting average might be a tall order for the rest of the season, but I think if the bats continue to be hot, the Rays will win a majority of their games as long as the pitching is efficient. Al Reyes (1-1) got two outs in the eighth inning for the win. While celebrating his 38th birthday, Reyes was arrested early Friday at a Tampa bar and charged with being in a fight and disturbing the peace. According to team reports, Reyes has apologized for the incident and will not face disciplinary action. Crawford became the eighth player since 1900 to reach 1,000 hits and 250 steals before his 27th birthday. Among active players, he’s the ninth to get to 1,000 hits at age 26 or younger, joining Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Adrian Beltre, Ivan Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Albert Pujols, Andruw Jones and Vladimir Guerrero. This was a night for Pena and Crawford to showcase their talents, but I was equally impressed with the type of game Haynes had, with three hits, one run and one stolen base. With Cliff Floyd out of commission for a bit, it's great that the Rays have some depth in the outfield. The big news of the day concerned third baseman Evan Longoria. He will make his much-anticipated major league debut on Saturday. Longoria will be replacing Willy Aybar on the active roster. Aybar was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a sore left hamstring that could sideline him up to four weeks. The mound battle tomorrow will feature Jason Hammel versus Daniel Cabrera, who is 6-0 with a 3.63 ERA in 12 starts, going 3-0 with a 2.76 ERA in five appearances at Tropicana Field. When asked about the Orioles three-game losing streak, this was Sarfate's response… “It’s not the end of the world. It’s still early. We’ll win tomorrow and forget about it.” LIKE HELL YOU WILL!
Dreams come true, I guess. On a night that Carl Crawford had his 1,000th career hit, Carlos Pena and the Rays dominated the Orioles in the later stages of the game with eight unanswered runs in the seventh and eighth inning. Pena had two home runs and drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning to finish with six RBIs, one shy of his career high. James Shields had an uncomfortable first inning, giving up runs to Nick Markakis, Kevin Millar and Aubrey Huff. Keeping the game close, Pena hit a two-run homer to deep left center, which scored Carl Crawford. After runs by Luis Hernandez and Luke Scott in the second and sixth inning, the Rays tied the game 5-5 with another home run by Pena to deep right, scoring Crawford and Akinora Iwamura. Tampa Bay continued the hitting assault in the eighth inning with four hits and five runs. Nathan Haynes singled to left field, while Jason Bartlett's bunt to advance Haynes was a pop out caught by relief pitcher Dennis Sarfate. Haynes took matters into his own hands, stealing second. After three consecutive walks (Iwamura, Crawford and Pena), which scored Haynes, Greg Aquino, the fourth Oriole pitcher of the game, finished what would be the final offensive inning for the Rays. B.J. Upton singled to center, scoring Iwamura and Crawford, but Pena was tagged out at third. Upton advanced to second base on the throw. Eric Hinske doubled to deep center, scoring Upton. After a Jonny Gomes walk, Shawn Riggans singled to left, scoring Hinske. Aquino struck out Haynes to end the memorable inning. Speaking of the top five again, collectively they were 10 for 20 with 8 RBIs. Maintaining a .500 batting average might be a tall order for the rest of the season, but I think if the bats continue to be hot, the Rays will win a majority of their games as long as the pitching is efficient. Al Reyes (1-1) got two outs in the eighth inning for the win. While celebrating his 38th birthday, Reyes was arrested early Friday at a Tampa bar and charged with being in a fight and disturbing the peace. According to team reports, Reyes has apologized for the incident and will not face disciplinary action. Crawford became the eighth player since 1900 to reach 1,000 hits and 250 steals before his 27th birthday. Among active players, he’s the ninth to get to 1,000 hits at age 26 or younger, joining Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Adrian Beltre, Ivan Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Albert Pujols, Andruw Jones and Vladimir Guerrero. This was a night for Pena and Crawford to showcase their talents, but I was equally impressed with the type of game Haynes had, with three hits, one run and one stolen base. With Cliff Floyd out of commission for a bit, it's great that the Rays have some depth in the outfield. The big news of the day concerned third baseman Evan Longoria. He will make his much-anticipated major league debut on Saturday. Longoria will be replacing Willy Aybar on the active roster. Aybar was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a sore left hamstring that could sideline him up to four weeks. The mound battle tomorrow will feature Jason Hammel versus Daniel Cabrera, who is 6-0 with a 3.63 ERA in 12 starts, going 3-0 with a 2.76 ERA in five appearances at Tropicana Field. When asked about the Orioles three-game losing streak, this was Sarfate's response… “It’s not the end of the world. It’s still early. We’ll win tomorrow and forget about it.” LIKE HELL YOU WILL!
