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Maybe it’s time to stop calling the Tampa Bay Rays surprising.
Carl Crawford sure thinks so after his second career grand slam, the biggest blow in a seven-run, seventh-inning rally, carried the Rays to an 8-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs and a three-game sweep of the team with baseball’s best record Thursday night.
“We’ve been playing good,” Crawford said. “After winning three games like this, it’s going to be hard to argue that we’re not one of the good teams in the league.”
At 43-29, the Rays have the third-best record in the majors behind the Cubs and Boston Red Sox. They’re 14 games over .500 for the first time in franchise history and have set a club record for victories before the All-Star break.
“It validates what we’ve been doing. It does give us more confidence. There’s no question about that,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said of the sweep. “I don’t know how else I can say it. … Hopefully it’s going to catapult us even further.”
The Cubs had been the only team in the majors that hadn’t lost more than two games in a row this season. It looked as though it would remain that way when they chased Rays starter James Shields and took a 3-1 lead in the seventh.
But reliever Carlos Marmol (1-2) opened the door for Tampa Bay’s biggest inning of the season by walking the first two batters he faced, then hitting the next two with pitches to force in a run and depart with the bases loaded.
“He’s been extremely reliable. This sort of came out of nowhere,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “What are you going to do?”
Crawford hit Scott Eyre’s second pitch into the right-field stands, putting Tampa Bay ahead 6-3.
And the Rays weren’t finished. B.J. Upton tripled and scored on Eric Hinske’s double, then Hinske stole third and trotted home on Evan Longoria’s sacrifice fly.
“It’s just been a struggle. We’ve got to piece it together, and we’ve got to keep our heads up and keep going,” said Piniella, whose team returns home Friday for the start of a weekend series against the crosstown rival White Sox.
The Cubs are 3-4 since Alfonso Soriano went on the 15-day disabled list with a broken hand, but remain 3 1/2 games ahead of second-place St. Louis in the NL Central because the Cardinals dropped their third straight to Kansas City on Thursday.
“We haven’t been in a bad spell all year,” Piniella said. “Well, we’re in one right now, and hopefully at home, it will cure it and we go forward.”
Grant Balfour (2-0) pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings to get the win. It was the Rays’ third sweep of a first-place team. They also took three straight at home from Boston April 25-27 and the Los Angeles Angels May 9-11.
Sean Gallagher pitched six strong innings for the Cubs, allowing an unearned run and four hits before the bullpen let the game get away. Mike Fontenot hit an RBI double off Shields, and run-scoring singles by Kosuke Fukudome and Ryan Theriot put Chicago ahead 3-1.
Shields, returning from a six-game suspension for his role in a bench-clearing brawl at Boston on June 5, allowed three runs and seven hits in 6 1-3 innings. He walked two and matched a season high with nine strikeouts.
The Rays’ opening day starter has not won since beating the Angels with a one-hitter on May 9. He’s 0-3 in seven starts since, including a 6-1 complete-game road loss to the Angels in the only other start he’s made since the fight.
The Rays scored an unearned run in the second when Willy Aybar grounded into a double play. Gallagher kept Chicago close by not allowing any more damage in the inning, then wiggling out of bases-loaded jam by getting Crawford to ground out to end the fifth.
The Cubs broke through in the seventh, when Micah Hoffpauir had a leadoff double and Mark DeRosa walked. After Henry Blanco failed to get a sacrifice bunt down, Fontenot’s ground-rule double bounced over the wall in left-center, tying the game 1-all and finishing Shields.
Fukudome’s bloop single off Trever Miller drove in the second run of the inning, and Theriot’s RBI single off Balfour put the Cubs up 3-1.
Xtra, xtra: The Rays signed high school SS Tim Beckham, the No. 1 pick in this month’s baseball draft, to a minor league deal that included a $6.15 million signing bonus. The 18-year-old from Griffin, Ga., took batting practice before the game and threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Rays SS Jason Bartlett fouled a pitch off his left foot during batting practice and was scratched from the lineup. Rookie 3B Longoria made his first major league start at shortstop (Associated Press - Sports).
With every victory against contenders like the Chicago Cubs, the Tampa Bay Rays gain a little more confidence.
“It validates that we are a good team,” manager Joe Maddon said Wednesday night after the surprising Rays held off the Cubs 5-4 for their second straight win over the club with baseball’s best record.
“When you go through these situations where you’re attempting to grow—you think you’re good and you think you’re better, but you actually have to go out there and show it. It’s not about coming up short or always saying, ‘What if.’ You actually have to do it. We need confidence to do that, and we gain confidence with games like this.”
Andy Sonnanstine allowed three runs in five-plus innings and Tampa Bay’s improved bullpen shut down the Cubs for the second night in a row to help the Rays clinch their ninth consecutive series at home.
B.J. Upton, Eric Hinske, Evan Longoria and Willy Aybar provided just enough offensive support, driving in runs off Carlos Zambrano during Tampa Bay’s four-run third inning.
Zambrano (8-3) lost for just the second time in his last nine decisions. He allowed five runs and seven hits in 6 2-3 innings, departing after throwing 100 pitches. The Cubs later said he was lifted because of right shoulder discomfort.
The two-time NL All-Star will fly Thursday to Chicago, where he will see a doctor and have an MRI examination.
“At this point I don’t know nothing. We’ll see what happens tomorrow,” Zambrano said, adding that his shoulder was feeling better. “Hopefully it’s nothing bad.”
Catcher Geovany Soto motioned for manager Lou Piniella to head out to the mound after Zambrano threw his last pitch.
“He threw a pitch funny. Like weird,” Soto said. “I went out there. It was like, ‘Are you alright? What’s going on?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ I just had to call somebody because I didn’t think it was alright.”
Zambrano tried to make a case for staying in the game.
“He was convincing,” said Piniella, who appeared to be ready to allow the pitcher to continue before changing his mind. “We did the right thing getting him out, obviously.”
With 42 wins, the Rays have matched their club record for victories before the All-Star break. They were 42-45 at the break under Piniella in 2004 and wound up winning a franchise-best 70 games.
The Cubs scored twice in the third and once in the fifth off Sonnanstine (8-3), who allowed six hits and kept the Rays in front by only giving up one run after Chicago loaded the bases on a double and two walks with no out in the fifth.
Ryan Theriot, who drove in a run with a third-inning single, trimmed Tampa Bay’s lead to 5-3 when he grounded into a force play at second. Sonnanstine avoided further damage when he struck out Derrek Lee and got Aramis Ramirez to fly out to strand runners at first and third.
The Rays’ bullpen limited the Cubs to one run and three hits over the last 4 1-3 innings of Tampa Bay’s 3-2 victory in the series opener. This time, J.P. Howell and Dan Wheeler held Chicago in check until Troy Percival closed it out in the ninth.
Percival earned his 17th save in 19 opportunities to tie Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers for ninth place on the career list with 341. He gave up a leadoff homer to Soto and walked Mark DeRosa to put the tying run on first before retiring the next three batters to end the game.
“We’re a good team. Everybody knows we’re a good team now,” Percival said. “We’re not sneaking up on anybody anymore.”
Zambrano walked Akinori Iwamura leading off the first and third innings, and the right-hander paid for it both times.
Carl Crawford, back from serving a four-game suspension for his part in Tampa Bay’s bench-clearing brawl at Boston on June 5, hit a liner that DeRosa tracked down in left field only to have the ball skip off his glove for a two-base error that allowed Iwamura to score all the way from first.
In the third, Crawford doubled after Iwamura walked, and Upton, Hinske and Longoria followed with RBI singles to put Tampa Bay up 4-2. One out later, Zambrano gave up a RBI single to Aybar to fall behind by three runs.
Kosuke Fukudome drove in Chicago’s first run with an RBI double, then scored on Theriot’s single for a 2-1 lead.
Xtra, xtra: Rays OF Rocco Baldelli (mitochondrial disorder) went 2-for-3 with a pair of solo homers in his second rehab start for Class A Vero Beach (Associated Press - Sports).
Evan Longoria’s homer snapped a sixth-inning tie. The rookie’s stellar defense sealed another Tampa Bay victory and spoiled Lou Piniella’s return to Tropicana Field.
Longoria fielded Reed Johnson’s ninth-inning bunt with his bare hand and threw to first on one hop Tuesday night, preventing the tying run from scoring from third base in the Rays’ 3-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
“He put it down in a good spot, and it was just do or die,” Longoria said, adding that first baseman Willy Aybar deserved just as much credit for handling the hurried throw cleanly to end the game.
“Probably the best bunt play I have ever seen, capped off with the pick by Aybar,” closer Troy Percival said. “That ball right there, typically, is going to be bobbled just enough for the guy to be safe.”
Cliff Floyd also hit a solo homer for the Rays, connecting off Ryan Dempster in the second inning. Longoria led off the sixth with his 11th of the season, snapping a 1-all tie against Neal Cotts (0-1), who had a two-base throwing error in the seventh to set up Tampa Bay’s other run.
Grant Balfour (1-0) pitched 1 1-3 innings in relief of Scott Kazmir to get the win. The starter held the Cubs to one run and three hits in 4 2-3 innings, and the Rays bullpen limited the team with baseball’s best record to three hits the rest of the way.
“They’re a good team. I’ve seen that all year,” Dempster said. “They’ve got a real good pitching staff. They’ve got a good bullpen. They’ve got a lot of good young players.”
Percival, whose veteran leadership is one of the reason Tampa Bay is off to its best start in franchise history, worked an eventful ninth for his 16th save in 18 opportunities.
After Geovany Soto flied out on the warning track in left, The closer gave up a single to Mark DeRosa and a double to pinch hitter Kosuke Fukudome. DeRosa scored on a passed ball, and the Rays nearly blew the lead when Percival’s low pitch to pinch hitter Jim Edmonds skipped past catcher Dioner Navarro with two outs.
But the ball caromed off the backstop perfectly, forcing Fukudome to remain at third. When Edmonds walked, Johnson layed a bunt down the third base line that caught Percival and Longoria by surprise.
“He probably thought that he could get the third baseman napping a little bit,” said Piniella, the former Rays manager now in his second season with the Cubs. “As it was, the kid came in barehanded, and the first baseman made a real nice catch.”
The victory before a crowd of 31,607—a number bolstered by thousands of Cub fans relishing Chicago’s first-ever trip to Tampa Bay—was the Rays’ 41st victory of the season, one shy of their most ever before the All-Star break.
They won 42 before the break in 2004, when Piniella wound up leading his hometown team to a franchise-best 70 wins.
Piniella was with the Rays from 2003-2005, going 200-285 before being bought of the final year of his contract. It’s a move he sought because losing was wearing on him, and the 64-year-old lifelong resident of Tampa reiterated before the game that he has no regrets.
“I’m happy where I’m at right now. It’s worked out well for everybody,” Piniella said, adding that it’s great to see his old team doing well and contending in the AL East.
“We had a nucleus of good young kids here. There were areas, obviously, that the organization needed to get better at. And, they have, to their credit,” he said.
Kazmir is one of the youngsters Piniella was talking about. At 24, he’s the youngest member of Tampa Bay’s rotation and is already the club’s career leader in wins, strikeouts and innings pitched.
The left-hander held the Cubs hitless until Henry Blanco singled off the glove of diving second baseman Akinori Iwamura with one out in the fifth. After fanning Ronny Cedeno, he gave up an infield single to Johnson and the Cubs tied it 1-all when Ryan Theriot’s grounder deflected off the glove of diving first baseman Willy Aybar and bounded over the head of Iwamura for a RBI single.
Kazmir walked Derrek Lee to load the bases, but the Cubs wasted an opportunity to go ahead when Balfour struck out Aramis Ramirez to end the inning. Kazmir, who’s allowed just two earned runs and 15 hits in five home starts this season, threw 110 pitches.
Dempster threw 107 pitches in five innings, departing after allowing one run and six hits. He walked two and struck out six.
Xtra, xtra: Kazmir walked four and struck out seven. Rays LF Carl Crawford finished a four-game suspension for his part in Tampa Bay’s bench-clearing brawl at Boston on June 5 and returns to the lineup Tuesday. Iwamura is appealing his three-game suspension, which was scheduled to start Wednesday (Associated Press - Sports).
Fredi Gonzalez wanted a complete game as bad as Ricky Nolasco, so there was no hesitation in giving the young Florida Marlins pitcher an opportunity to pursue the first of his career.
“It would have been my first as a manager as well. I’ve never had one, so I guess we were both cheering hard for it,” Gonzalez said Sunday after the Marlins stopped a three-game losing streak with a 9-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Nolasco fell an out shy of going the distance, but did throw more pitches— 132—than any major leaguer this season in nearly posting Florida’s first complete game since Anibal Sanchez went eight innings in a 2-1 loss at Atlanta on Sept. 16, 2006.
The Marlins have gone 245 games since their last complete game, the longest current streak in the majors and second-longest stretch ever behind the Washington Nationals’ 261-game drought from Aug. 16, 2006 to May 31, 2008.
“Fredi gave me every chance,” Nolasco said. “I just couldn’t get that last out.”
Nolasco (7-4) allowed three runs and six hits in 8 2-3 innings to win for the sixth time in his past seven decisions and tie Mark Hendrickson for the team lead in victories. The right-hander struck out a career-high 12 and walked one.
Jacobs and Helms both homered off Edwin Jackson (4-6), who made his last start before he’s expected to begin serving a five-game suspension for his part in Tampa Bay’s bench-clearing brawl at Boston on June 5.
The victory stopped Florida’s three-game skid and prevented the Rays from sweeping the weekend Citrus Series. The intrastate foes, who’ve never truly developed a rivalry, meet again next week in Miami.
“That’s our goal, and it’s wonderful that we’re disappointed,” Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said of the wasted opportunity to take all three games of the series. “That’s something that hasn’t happened here in the past. The expectations have been raised.”
The Rays scored on Jason Bartlett’s RBI single in the fifth and Eric Hinske’s 12th homer in the sixth before adding an unearned run in the ninth off Nolasco, who retired the first two batters in the inning before running out of gas.
The Florida starter walked Evan Longoria and gave up a single to Cliff Floyd before being replaced by Joe Nelson. Hanley Ramirez mishandled a grounder for an error that loaded the bases, then Gabe Gross singled to drive in the other run charged to Nolasco.
The Marlins don’t expect the high pitch count to have an adverse effect on Nolasco, who is 6-1 over his his last eight appearances following a 1-3 start. His 12 strikeouts were the most by a Florida pitcher since Dontrelle Willis fanned 12 in a complete game against Philadelphia on Sept. 10, 2006.
“Normally I don’t like to push guys past 125, but he deserved the chance,” Gonzalez said, noting the Marlins have an off day Thursday, meaning the 25-year-old right-hander will have an extra day of rest between starts.
“I threw more than that in high school. I threw 188 there,” Nolasco said. “But that was only pitching once a week. … I’ll be fine, and I’ll recover fine.”
The Marlins only had five hits off Jackson, but made the most of them. The Rays starter hurt himself by walking two batters ahead of Helms’ first homer since May 17 in the second inning, and Jeremy Hermida and Jorge Cantu singled with two outs before Jacobs’ 16th homer put Florida up 6-0 in the fifth.
Florida began the day leading the major leagues with 101 homers, but had not hit one in three games. Before the stretch Helms ended, the Marlins had not gone consecutive games without a homer this season.
Cody Ross had a two-run triple in the eighth and Cantu added an RBI single in the ninth.
Xtra, xtra: The Rays stole eight bases in the series, boosting their major league-leading total to 80 (Associated Press - Sports).
There’s nothing like a strong pitching performance to squash a disagreement between batterymates.
Tampa Bay’s Matt Garza and Dioner Navarro put their differences of a week ago behind them on Saturday night, working together to help the Rays beat the suddenly punchless Florida Marlins 4-1.
“It was a huge step in the right direction,” Garza said after allowing one run and three hits in seven innings.
“We’ve always been on the same page, even when we fight,” Navarro joked, adding the pitcher and catcher having been laughing since the day after the heated confrontation they had during a loss at Texas.
“It was great, just the way he went about it tonight,” Navarro added. “We had a conversation before the game. We stuck with the plan and everything worked out for us.”
Jonny Gomes homered in his first at-bat since serving a five-game suspension for his part in a bench-clearing brawl in Boston, and Jason Bartlett’s two-run single off Mark Hendrickson (7-5) snapped a 1-all tie in the fourth inning.
Reliever Dan Wheeler worked a scoreless eighth, and Troy Percival added a perfect ninth to finish the three-hitter for his 15th save in 17 opportunities.
Garza, who had lost two straight, got into it with Navarro on the mound during a loss to the Rangers on June 6. They clashed again in the dugout after the young right-hander gave up a home run.
The Rays starter was in control from the beginning against the Marlins, who have lost three straight and are hitting .162 over their past six games.
Garza limited them to Jeremy Hermida’s fourth-inning double and singles by Matt Treanor and Luis Gonzalez. Mike Jacobs drove in Florida’s lone run with a fourth-inning sacrifice fly.
“What happened to our offense? Good pitching,” Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “When you get good pitching against you, it’s tough to swing the bat. Garza was terrific, then you get into Wheeler and Percival.”
Manager Joe Maddon urged Garza to do a better job of controlling his emotions in tight game situations and was confident his pitcher and catcher would be fine.
“I had no concern, no trepidation whatsoever. I thought it was going to good on both parts, and it was,” the manager said.
“There were times where I got a little upset,” Garza explained, “but I was able to step off, regroup and come back and get the next guy.”
Tampa Bay has won 22 of its last 25 at home, including eight consecutive series. The crowd of 31,195 was up from 19,312 for the opener of the annual Citrus Series, thanks in part to a post-game concert featuring Grammy-winning artist Gilberto Santa Rosa.
Gomes homered on the first pitch he’d faced since June 5, when he was ejected during a fight between Tampa Bay and Boston that led to the suspensions of eight players, including five Rays. The slugger rejoined the team Friday, but did not play.
The second-inning homer, Gomes’ first since May 21, was the sixth allowed by Hendrickson over his past four starts. Even though the left-hander leads Florida with seven victories, he’s dropped three straight decisions since his last win three weeks ago.
The Marlins starter failed to get past the fourth inning in two of his previous three starts, allowing 19 runs in 12 innings. He barely lasted until the fifth Saturday night.
The Rays loaded the bases on B.J. Upton’s single and two walks before Bartlett, who had been 0-for-5 with the bases filled this season, singled up the middle to drive in two runs for a 3-1 lead.
Hendrickson avoided further damage by getting Akinori Iwamura to ground out to end the inning. He threw 103 pitches in five innings, allowing three runs and four hits.
Xtra, xtra: Rays OF Rocco Baldelli, sidelined since May 2007 because hamstring problems and mitochondrial disorder, will begin a rehab assignment at Class A Vero Beach on Monday. His status will be re-evaluated after he makes starts as the designated hitter on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Baldelli remains hopeful of a return to the major leagues this year. “It’s a good step. We’ll see how it all plays out,” manager Joe Maddon said. “There’s no kind of timetable. There’s no kind of pressure involved. We just want to get him out there playing and see how he reacts to it.” (Associated Press - Sports).
Rays fans rose to their feet and cheered on Troy Percival.
Most nights, the Tampa Bay closer earns a save for a perfect ninth. This time, he gave the Rays a lift by just being back on the mound after spending the past two weeks on the disabled list with a hamstring strain.
“He’s a guy that brings a lot of veteran leadership to this team, and him being activated does a lot for our ballclub,” winning pitcher Andy Sonanstine said after the 38-year-old reliever struck out the first two batters of the ninth, then got the final out in a 7-3 victory over the Florida Marlins on a grounder to shortstop.
“I felt fine. I felt good. No problems,” Percival said.
Eric Hinske and Dioner Navarro drove in two runs apiece for the Rays, who pulled within 1 1-2 games of first-place Boston in the AL East.
Hinske’s first-inning double off Ryan Tucker (1-1) wiped out a quick two-run lead the Marlins took against Sonnanstine (7-3), who settled after a shaky opening inning to win for the first time in nearly a month.
Navarro’s RBI grounder put Tampa Bay up 5-3 in the fifth, then he added a run-scoring single off Joe Nelson in the eighth. Gabe Gross, Akinori Iwamura and Jason Bartlett also drove in runs for the Rays.
Sonnanstine, 0-2 in four starts since last winning at St. Louis on May 16, allowed three runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings. J.P. Howell and Dan Wheeler held the Marlins scoreless in the middle innings, and Percival worked the ninth despite it being a non-save situation.
“I don’t care about that any more,” said Percival, who missed 12 games while he was on the DL. “I just like to go out there and put up a zero.”
The first of six games between intrastate foes who have never developed a true rivalry drew a crowd of only 19,312 to Tropicana Field, even though both teams are off to terrific starts that have them in second place in their divisions.
It’s just the second time in the 11 seasons the clubs have met that both carried winning records into the Citrus Series.
A night after being limited to three hits in a 3-0 loss to Philadelphia, the Marlins scored twice in the first against Sonnanstine, with the first three batters of the game—Hanley Ramirez, Jeremy Hermida and Jorge Cantu—reaching base on a triple, double and single.
The Rays got the runs back on Hinske’s two-run double. They added two more in the second to go up 4-2, with Cliff Floyd scoring the first run after walking and stealing second for his first stolen base in two years.
Sonnanstine regrouped after his shaky first inning to retire 12 in a row before Cody Ross doubled to left with one out in the fifth.
“He settled down, and he threw strikes. He didn’t get himself in trouble,” Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “He did a fine job.”
Alfredo Amezaga’s RBI single trimmed Florida’s deficit to 4-3, however Sonnanstine escaped further damage by getting Matt Treanor to hit a dribbler back to the mound and Ramirez to pop out to end the inning with Amezaga on second.
The Rays wiggled out of another tight situation in the sixth after Sonnanstine gave up a leadoff double to Hermida. Howell replaced the Tampa Bay starter with one out and gave up an infield single to Mike Jacobs before Dan Uggla popped to second and Luis Gonzalez flied to left.
Tucker, who pitched five strong innings to beat Cincinnati in his big league debut last Sunday, allowed five runs and seven hits in five innings. The 21-year-old right-hander walked three and struck out two.
“I’ve got to keep myself under control,” Tucker said, “try and do a better job keeping my team in the game.”
Xtra, xtra: The Rays played without LF Carl Crawford, who began serving a four-game suspension for his role in last week’s bench-clearing brawl in Boston. Rays OF Jonny Gomes returned from his five-game suspension for his part in the brawl, but was not in the lineup. Percival had not pitched since May 28. To make room on the roster, RHP Al Reyes (right shoulder tendinitis) was placed on the DL, retroactive to June 10. The Marlins’ 106-84 interleague record is the best among NL teams. They are 34-22 against the Rays (Associated Press - Sports).
John Lackey and the Los Angeles Angels ended Scott Kazmir’s six-game winning streak. The Tampa Bay left-hander was convinced that plate umpire Derryl Cousins contributed.
Gary Matthews Jr. and Vladimir Guerrero homered for the Angels in Wednesday’s 4-2 victory. But what bothered Kazmir and Rays manager Joe Maddon the most was Cousins’ strike zone.
Reggie Willits drew a two-out walk just before Maicer Izturis drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a single in the seventh that ended Kazmir’s outing, and Maddon was ejected by Cousins after changing pitchers.
“That was unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like that before,” the 24-year-old Kazmir said. “I mean, you come into the game and some of the veteran guys are talking about an umpire that doesn’t like calling anybody out on strikes. They called him `shoe box.’ You shouldn’t change your zone just because of the count.”
There were 18 strikeouts in the game, and only two batters looked at strike three—Tampa Bay’s Willy Aybar in the fourth inning, and Matthews in the eighth.
“It’s a big advantage for a hitter if he knows that the guy’s not going to call somebody out on strikes,” said Kazmir, who pitched six scoreless innings against the Angels in a 2-0 victory on May 10 to begin his winning streak.
“As soon as Willits got up, it was like, `You can swing if you want to, but if not, just take your base. Thanks for coming. It’s all good.’ It’s like it was predetermined—like he already had it in his head what he was going to call. I thought I had Willits on the AB before that, too, and it didn’t get called.”
Maddon, who spent 31 years with the Angels and six as manager Mike Scioscia’s bench coach, has been ejected eight times in his three seasons as a manager—four times against the Halos.
“I didn’t like the calls. I didn’t like the calls at all. I was disappointed with that and I let my voice be heard,” Maddon said. “My biggest concern always is that the same strike zone is maintained throughout the game. That’s all I’m looking for—that things don’t change when it gets hot.”
The Rays were a franchise-record 13 games over .500 when they began this 3-6 road trip, which included a bench-clearing brawl at Boston and a confrontation on the mound between batterymates Matt Garza and Dioner Navarro that resumed in the dugout during a game at Texas. So it was fitting that it ended with a Maddon ejection in his old neighborhood.
“It was kind of interesting,” Maddon said. “We bonded very nicely on this trip.”
Izturis’ key hit came on Kazmir’s 117th pitch, but Maddon defended his decision to stay with Kazmir in that situation instead of going to the bullpen.
“He was the right guy for that moment, but it just didn’t happen,” he said. “Izturis was going to be his last hitter, anyway. He got him to two strikes, but Izturis has been hot and he just dumped one in there.”
Lackey (3-1) allowed two runs and four hits over 7 1-3 innings, striking out seven and walking two.
Scot Shields pitched two-thirds of an inning and Francisco Rodriguez worked a hitless ninth for his major league-leading 27th save in 28 chances. It was his 24th straight save, extending his club record.
Lackey, who had a career-high 19 wins and an AL-best 3.01 ERA last year, has a 1.83 ERA mark in six starts after spending the first 6 1-2 weeks of the season on the disabled list with a strained triceps. The right-hander is 9-1 with a 2.25 ERA in 11 career starts against Tampa Bay.
“I expected a tight game and I knew I was going to have to pitch well to win,” Lackey said. “When you’re going against a guy who’s as hot as he (Kazmir) has been and pitches as well as he has, you definitely don’t want to give in. There were some spots in there where I could have thrown fastballs, but I threw breaking balls instead thinking that one run may be the difference.”
Kazmir (6-2) allowed three runs and six hits in 6 2-3 innings with 10 strikeouts and three walks. He set down the first 14 batters he faced in the rematch before Matthews Jr. drove his seventh homer into the left field bullpen on the first pitch to tie the score. Kazmir also escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, striking out Torii Hunter after intentionally walking Guerrero with runners at the corners.
Akinori Iwamura opened the game with a triple and scored on a single by Carl Crawford. Two-out walks to Evan Longoria and Aybar loaded the bases, but Navarro grounded out to end the threat.
“John doesn’t normally give up a lot of runs, and once he settles into the game and gets his tempo going, he gets really good,” Maddon said. “I liked the way we came after him in the beginning, but we needed to get more than that.”
The Rays got only one more hit until the seventh inning, when Longoria doubled to right-center to end Lackey’s string of 14 consecutive batters retired. Longoria advanced on Aybar’s groundout and scored on Navarro’s sacrifice fly, giving the Rays a 2-1 lead.
Xtra, xtra: One day after going the distance in a 6-1 loss to Jeff Weaver, Rays RHP James Shields formally dropped his appeal of the six-game suspension he received for his role in the bench-clearing brawl at Boston. Shields triggered the melee by hitting Coco Crisp, one day after Crisp angered the Rays with a hard takeout slide against Iwamura at second base. Shields will be eligible to pitch for the Rays again on June 19 in the finale of a three-game series with White Sox at Tropicana Field (Associated Press - Sports).
Jered Weaver cooled off the hottest team in baseball.
Weaver gave up just four hits in eight innings and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-1 on Tuesday night.
Garret Anderson and Vladimir Guerrero each hit two-run home runs as the Angels picked up their first win against Tampa Bay this season.
The Rays swept three home games against the Angels in May and pounded out 18 hits in a 13-4 win in the series opener in Anaheim on Monday. That victory gave Tampa Bay a 30-15 record since April 22, the best in the majors.
But the Angles quickly generated four runs against Tampa Bay starter James Shields in the first inning Tuesday and that was more than enough for Weaver to work with.
Weaver (6-6), who has won four of his last five starts after struggling early in the season, held the Rays to three hits over the first seven innings before giving up a solo homer to Gabe Gross in the eighth.
“Obviously it’s been a little roller coaster for me, a little different than in past years,” said Weaver. “That’s just guys trying to make adjustments on me and me trying to make adjustments on them.”
Shields (4-5) was making his first start since being ejected in a June 5 game at Boston when he hit Boston outfielder Coco Crisp with a pitch to open the second inning, leading to a bench clearing brawl.
Shields was assessed a six-game suspension for his role in the brawl. The native of nearby Newhall, California planned to begin serving the suspension after Tuesday’s start.
“His grandmother is going to be here, she’s never seen him pitch in front of such a big crowd, it’s a big moment for him,” said Rays manager Joe Maddon before the game.
Shields tossed a one-hit shutout against the Angels in St. Petersburg on May 9, but he quickly ran into trouble Tuesday as Los Angeles collected six hits and four runs in the first inning.
“I thought I threw some pretty good pitches in the first inning, they just didn’t go my way,” said Shields. “I made good pitches, they hit good pitches. It could easily have been the other way.”
After Maicer Izturis singled to extend a 10-game hitting streak, Anderson gave the Angels a quick 2-0 lead with his sixth home run of the season.
Guerrero singled and scored on a double by Howie Kendrick before Jeff Mathis reached on an infield single that allowed Casey Kotchman to add the fourth Angels run, matching the team’s season high for production in the first inning.
“Early in the game (Shields) was trying to get his feet on the ground and he missed some spots,” said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. “We took advantage of it.”
Izturis also singled in the fifth before Guerrero hit his ninth home run of the season.
Guerrero went 4-for-4 against the Rays on Monday and is now 6-for-7 in the series.
Tampa Bay rookie Evan Longoria had a pair of doubles against Weaver after going 3-for-4 with two home runs in the series opener Monday (Associated Press - Sports).
Dioner Navarro turned the page quickly after his dugout confrontation with teammate Matt Garza the day before. So did the rest of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Navarro had four hits and four RBIs, including one of three consecutive home runs Tampa Bay hit against Joe Saunders, and rookie Evan Longoria had a pair of solo homers and an RBI double in a 13-4 rout of the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night.
“I think it says a lot about our team,” Navarro said. “It was a `younger brother, older brother’ fight. There’s no hard feelings or nothing. We’re fine. We handled it in the way we had to handle it, and we came back out here today and did our job.”
Manager Joe Maddon said Navarro will catch Garza’s next start despite their heated exchange on Sunday at Texas, which began on the mound and continued in the dugout after Garza gave up a two-run homer to German Duran. Navarro has been behind the plate for nine of Garza’s 12 starts this season.
“People sometimes really misconstrue something like that,” Maddon said. “The best way I can explain it to anyone would be to just think of your own family and what happens behind closed doors. The people you love the most you’re going to have the biggest arguments with, and then you make up.”
Edwin Jackson (4-5) allowed four runs and 10 hits in seven innings, striking out two and walking one. The right-hander is scheduled to begin serving a five-game suspension on June 13 for his part in a bench-clearing brawl with the Boston Red Sox on Thursday at Fenway Park.
Longoria, Willy Aybar and Navarro all went deep against Saunders (9-3), helping Maddon get his first win in Anaheim as a big league manager after eight losses at the “Big A.” Maddon spent 31 years in the Angels organization and six seasons as Mike Scioscia’s bench coach before taking the Tampa Bay job prior to the 2006 campaign.
Longoria, whose 10 homers are the most among AL rookies, drove a 1-0 pitch just beyond the second tier of the left-field bullpen to open the scoring. Aybar homered to left two pitches later, and Navarro worked the count full before giving the Rays three consecutive home runs for the first time in the franchise’s 11-year history with another drive into the bullpen.
“Obviously we’ve been playing a whole lot better this year and we have a lot more weapons, but I didn’t expect any of that,” Maddon said. “I mean, to hit home runs at night in this ballpark like that—they just don’t go to left field. So the back-to-back-to-back quite frankly was a surprise. But I’ll take it.”
It was the first time any team hit three in a row against the Angels since April 18, 2000, at Toronto, when Craig Grebeck, Raul Mondesi and Carlos Delgado went deep in the sixth inning against Jason Dickson.
The Rays outhit the Angels 18-12, with every Tampa Bay batter getting at least one hit.
Saunders was charged with eight runs and 10 hits over 4 2-3 innings. The left-hander has given up six home runs in his last three outings—one more than he allowed over his previous 10 starts this season combined.
“They’ve got speed, they have good contact guys and they have good power guys. They have a good mix. If you make a mistake they are going to make you pay for it,” Saunders said. “They got my pitch count up there. It’s just one of those games where you have to forget about it.”
Longoria, the third overall pick in the 2006 draft, homered again in the ninth off Darren Oliver. It was the second multihomer game for the Downey, Calif., native, who is hitting .255 with 32 RBIs in 54 games.
“Shoot, what a homecoming for me. I had all my family and friends in, and it was just a great feeling to be able to do what I did tonight,” Longoria said. “That’s a hot ballclub over there, and just to get that rally started in the second and get on top of them was big.”
Torii Hunter put the Angels ahead 4-3 in the fourth with his 200th career homer and eighth this season after a broken-bat leadoff single by Vladimir Guerrero, who was 4-for-4 along with Gary Matthews Jr.
But the Rays grabbed an 8-4 lead with five runs in the fifth. B.J. Upton hit an RBI double, Aybar singled in the go-ahead run after a walk to Longoria, and Navarro followed with a two-run double to right-center on Saunders’ 103rd and final pitch. Gabe Gross capped the five-run rally with an RBI single against Jose Arredondo.
Xtra, xtra: The Rays are 14-8 in the first game of a series, and have won nine of their last 11 series openers. Carl Crawford’s two steals increased Tampa Bay’s major league-leading total to 72. Aybar’s younger brother Erick has missed the Angels’ last 18 games with a dislocated right pinky (Associated Press - Sports).
Now the Tampa Bay Rays are fighting among themselves.
Rays starting pitcher Matt Garza and catcher Dioner Navarro had to be separated in the dugout—minutes after an angry confrontation on the mound—in a 6-3 loss at Texas in which Tampa Bay missed a chance for its first series sweep on the road this season.
“This wasn’t pretty today. It was a bad day all around,” left fielder Carl Crawford said.
“It was nothing, in-house kind of stuff, things that happen on occasion and we took care of it,” manager Joe Maddon insisted, without being specific. “It was shoving, that was it. It’s been taken care of.”
After Rangers No. 9 hitter German Duran hit a two-run homer for a 3-0 lead in the fourth, Garza and Navarro had a heated exchange on the mound, sticking their gloves into each other’s face. Pitching coach Jim Hickey pushed Navarro back toward the plate when he visited the mound.
When the inning ended, Garza approached Navarro in the dugout. Television cameras caught them face-to-face in a scuffle that spilled into the tunnel leading to the clubhouse. Maddon, Hickey and others rushed to break up the fracas.
“It was just something that happened in the game and it’s been taken care of,” Navarro said. “It happens in the family. … We’re fine. We’re brothers, a whole family. The oldest brother gets into fights sometimes. It’s been straightened out.”
Jason Hammel took over on the mound in the fifth, while Navarro remained in the game. Garza gave up three runs and six hits with two strikeouts.
“Just keep it in house and fix it. That’s about it,” Garza said, after meeting behind closed doors with Maddon for about 20 minutes. “We’re both competitors. Whatever happens stays here and we’ll definitely fix it.”
Hickey said he didn’t know if the disagreement was “over pitch selection or whatever. Obviously it was something that was bothering them.”
The scuffle between pitcher and catcher came only three days after Tampa Bay was involved in a bench-clearing brawl at Boston.
Not only did Tampa Bay get swept in the three-game series by the Red Sox to lose their 10-day hold on the AL East lead, the Rays had five players suspended for a total of 23 games that were staggered. Jonny Gomes served the second of his five-game suspension Sunday.
Tampa Bay (37-26) dropped 1 1/2 games behind Boston in the AL East after losing to Texas, which got home runs from David Murphy, Duran and Ramon Vazquez on a day that Josh Hamilton and Michael Young were out of the lineup.
“That shows how versatile and how capable our offense is with those two guys, the nucleus of our offense, out,” Murphy said. “We’ve got some other guys that can do some things too.”
Murphy batted in the No. 3 spot in place of Hamilton, who leads the AL in home runs and the majors in RBIs. Hamilton had a viral infection. The Rangers never trailed after Murphy pulled a solo homer down the right-field line in the first off Garza (4-3).
“I was just trying to do my best Josh Hamilton impression,” Murphy said, smiling.
Rookie right-hander Doug Mathis (2-1) allowed five hits over 5 1-3 innings, leaving after B.J. Upton’s two-run homer got the Rays to 4-2.
Duran, recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma on Sunday, started at third base while regular third baseman Vazquez played shortstop for Young, who was out of the lineup for the second time in three games. Vazquez homered in the eighth.
Young has a 22-game hitting streak, the longest in the majors this season. He returned to the lineup Saturday night after missing a game because of a hairline fracture in his left ring finger but left because of tightness in his groin.
Manager Ron Washington said Young only had soreness and should be back in the lineup in the next game, Tuesday night at Kansas City. Hamilton is expected to play then as well.
Milton Bradley, who raised his AL-leading on-base percentage to .456 with three walks and a single, scored after reaching to lead off the fifth and seventh innings. Bradley had a single in the fifth and scored on Gerald Laird’s single, then had a leadoff walk and a stolen base in the seventh before coming home on a single by Marlon Byrd to make it 5-2.
Frank Francisco relieved Mathis after Upton’s homer and got Eric Hinske on a called third strike. Hinske got ejected by home plate umpire James Hoye after arguing, then slammed his helmet to the ground and had a few more heated words before leaving.
“I let him know that I thought it was a ball, that it was a bad call,” Hinske said. “It was kind of an ugly game. We want to just put this game behind us.”
Xtra, xtra: Tampa Bay had consecutive errors to start the third. SS Jason Bartlett let a grounder roll under his glove before a dropped flyball when CF Upton and RF Gabe Gross were both calling for it. Upton, who was charge with the error, and Gross bumped and the ball ricocheted off both their gloves to the ground. RHP James Sheields is scheduled to start his six-game suspension for the Boston brawl Wednesday. Crawford, RHP Edwin Jackson and 2B Akinori Iawmura are expected to appeal before their suspensions begin later this month (Associated Press - Sports).
Tampa Bay’s pitching staff cooled off a hot-hitting lineup for the second night in a row. That’s just the sort of thing good teams do.
J.P. Howell pitched two innings of hitless relief, Dan Wheeler gave up a run in the ninth but got the last four outs for a hard-earned save, and the Rays held on for a 5-4 victory over the Rangers on Saturday night.
Texas had scored eight runs or more in six straight games before running into the Rays, who have held them to four a night while winning the first two of the three-game series. Tampa Bay bounced back to take the series after being swept by Boston. Incidentally, the Red Sox are only a half game up on the Rays in the AL East.
“(The Rangers) are very hot offensively,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “I have a lot of respect for them. Our pitchers have done a tremendous job against them. Wheeler had a very difficult job against the middle of their lineup. You could see he was under control. I felt good about having him out there.”
Willy Aybar hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning to make it 4-2.
Reliever Joaquin Benoit allowed two runs and two hits, and walked two in one inning for the Rangers, who’ve lost five of their last seven.
Milton Bradley’s solo homer in the eighth off Trever Miller—his sixth in the last seven games—made it 4-3.
In the top of the ninth, Jason Bartlett raced home on Jamey Wright’s wild pitch with an insurance run.
Howell (5-0) pitched two near-perfect innings, marred only by a walk and Wheeler got his second save in two chances.
Against Wheeler in the ninth, Ramon Vazquez singled and took third on Ian Kinsler’s second double of the night. After Wheeler walked Chris Shelton to load the bases major league RBI leader Josh Hamilton grounded into a fielder’s choice to drive in his 69th run.
“I wanted to hit it hard somewhere,” Hamilton said. “We just didn’t get it done tonight.”
Milton Bradley was retired on a ground ball to end the game as Wheeler breathed a sigh of relief.
“I watched these guys battle to get in a position to win,” Wheeler said. “The last thing you want to do as a reliever is deprive them of that.”
Normally a setup man, Wheeler is subbing for injured closer Troy Percival, and Wheeler’s new role requires an adjustment.
“I try to treat the ninth inning as the eighth inning or seventh, but there’s just something different about the ninth,” Wheeler said. “With Percy here, the game is one inning less. We’ve got to make up the slack for him.”
Meanwhile, the Rangers search for more consistency from a pitching staff that is last in the majors with a 5.10 ERA.
“Offense comes and goes depending on the pitching you’re facing,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “We just want to get (the pitching) straightened out. Those guys are capable of doing the job.”
With a first-inning single, Texas’ Michael Young extended his hitting streak to 22 games, longest in the majors this season and three short of his career high. Young raced home on Bradley’s RBI double.
Rangers starter Scott Feldman lasted seven innings and exited with the score even at 2 after allowing five hits, striking out five and walking two.
Tampa Bay starter Andy Sonnanstine left after five innings in a 2-2 game. He gave up six hits, struck out three and walked one.
Xtra, xtra: Rays OF Jonny Gomes dropped his appeal and began serving his five-game suspension on Saturday night. RHP James Shields will drop his appeal after Tuesday night’s start and will begin his six-game suspension on Wednesday. Gomes and Shields were two of five Rays suspended for a total of 23 games for their parts Thursday night’s bench-clearing melee with the Red Sox. The other three Tampa Bay players—Crawford, RHP Edwin Jackson and 2B Akinori Iawmura—are expected to appeal before their suspensions begin later in the month (Associated Press - Sports).
This time, Scott Kazmir got plenty of runs to work with.
Kazmir went eight innings to win a team-record sixth straight start, Evan Longoria hit one of Tampa Bay’s four homers, and the Rays beat the Texas Rangers 12-4 Friday night.
Kazmir (6-1) allowed two runs and six hits, struck out six and walked none. His winning streak is also a career-best mark.
B.J. Upton, Dioner Navarro and Eric Hinske also connected to help the Rays avoid matching their longest skid of the season.
The Rays had scored three runs or less in three of the games during Kazmir’s winning streak. Tampa Bay had managed two runs or less in five of its previous seven games overall.
But against shaky Texas pitching that has yielded seven runs or more in five of the last six games, Kazmir’s teammates provided Tampa Bay’s third double-digit run total of the season.
“We scored a lot of runs, but it was all about Kaz,” manager Joe Maddon said. “The way he pitched against that team kept us in the game and allowed us to get all those runs late. He was able to throw strikes when he wanted to. I loved his composure. He was in command.”
Kazmir twisted his left ankle covering first base on an infield hit in the second inning. After the game, he had the ankle wrapped in ice, but said he was fine.
The Rangers had scored eight or more runs in their previous six games, but Kazmir kept them in check as Tampa Bay pulled within a half-game of the first-place Boston Red Sox in the AL East.
“For the most part everything was working,” said Kazmir, who has allowed four earned runs in his last six games, a stretch of 41 innings. “I got ahead of hitters. That was my key. I owe it all to my defense. I can make pitches in the zone that are pretty good to hit when I’m ahead in the count because they’ll make the plays. It’s not like I have to strike everybody out.”
Kazmir threw 111 pitches, but he was still strong at the end of his outing, firing fastballs in the mid-90s in the eighth.
“He pounded the strike zone, he kept his pitches down and he made pitches when he had to,” Texas’ Marlon Byrd said. “He kept his fastball into the eighth inning. Tonight he was throwing 90 percent fastballs.”
All was calm with the Rays following Thursday night’s bench-clearing brawl with the Red Sox.
Tampa Bay pitchers James Shields (six games) and Edwin Jackson (five), outfielders Jonny Gomes (five) and Carl Crawford (four), and second baseman Akinori Iwamura (three) were suspended for their role in the incident.
All five were available for the opener of the three-game series due to appeals and because the suspensions were scheduled to start at staggered times.
“We want to get (the brawl in Boston) out of our heads,” Kazmir said. “We’ve got something special going here.”
Vicente Padilla (7-3) allowed three runs and five hits in six innings for the Rangers. He had won a career-best seven straight decisions.
Padilla retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced before Longoria belted his eighth homer leading off the fifth to tie it at 1.
Upton hit a solo drive and Cliff Floyd scored on Padilla’s wild pitch in the sixth to make it 3-1.
The Rays scored three in the eighth and six in the ninth. Navarro hit a two-run homer off Robinson Tejeda in the eighth and Hinske had a two-run drive in the ninth.
Ian Kinsler hit a solo drive in the eighth for Texas.
Padilla missed a start while he was on bereavement leave earlier this week. He was in his native Nicaragua attending to a personal family matter before returning late Thursday night.
“Padilla was going well, then he gave up the two homers and the wild pitch,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “We just couldn’t stop them. This wasn’t our night.”
Rangers shortstop Michael Young was scratched from the lineup due to a broken left ring finger. Young had started 60 of Texas’ first 62 games and currently carries a 21-game hitting streak, longest in the majors this season and four short of his career high.
Washington said Young would be back in the lineup on Saturday night.
Xtra, xtra: Until Kinsler’s drive, Kazmir hadn’t given up a home run since Sept. 4, a stretch of 68 innings (Associated Press - Sports).
The Boston Red Sox had plenty of fight against Tampa Bay—both in and out of their dugout.
Manny Ramirez homered, drove in five runs and got into a shouting match with a teammate as Boston beat Tampa Bay 7-1 Thursday night in a game that included a bench-clearing brawl between the clubs.
TV cameras showed Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis being separated after exchanging words in the dugout at the end of the fourth inning. Ramirez pointed at Youkilis before being escorted down the runway toward the clubhouse by trainer Paul Lessard and a few players.
Boston manager Terry Francona felt emotions were still running hot after the earlier brawl.
“I think they were just exchanging some views on things,” he said, trying to downplay his players’ near altercation. “It was kind of a hectic night. Sometimes those things happen. It wasn’t really a big deal; it won’t be a big deal.”
The Red Sox posted their 13th straight home win, matching the majors’ longest streak in nearly two years, and completed their second three-game sweep of the Rays in a little more than a month.
The fight on the field started after Boston’s Coco Crisp was hit on the right hip by a second-inning pitch from James Shields. Crisp dropped his bat, charged the mound and ducked a wild right by Shields before throwing a few punches himself.
Crisp was tackled to the ground by Tampa Bay catcher Dioner Navarro. Rays designated hitter Jonny Gomes charged the mound from the dugout, jumped on Navarro and Crisp, and threw several punches that hit Crisp while he was on the ground.
Crisp, who had a scratch on his forehead and right cheek, was most upset with what happened under the pile.
“I charged the mound. (Shields) tried to hit me with a punch,” Crisp said. “I’m not upset at all. We fought. That’s all it is. There were some cheap shots there. (Carl) Crawford came sliding in. I don’t know why he was pulling hair, scratching. After that it was three, four guys on one.”
Crawford didn’t deny that he may have pulled Crisp’s hair.
“There was a lot of stuff,” he said. “It could have been. There was a lot of pushing and shoving at the bottom.”
Crisp, Shields and Gomes were ejected.
“It’s simple,” Gomes said, when asked what he was doing when he got to the mound. “I’m just going out there for my pitcher’s defense.”
As for the dugout incident, Dustin Pedroia and Crisp both said they didn’t know what happened.
“I really didn’t see it,” Pedroia said. “I was running out onto the field. We’re around each other a lot, but we love each other. We’re a team.”
“You have to ask them,” Crisp said. “I was eating next to Youkilis and said I don’t want to know. I saw Manny. He was speaking in Spanish.”
The tempers between the teams carried over from Wednesday’s game when Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon felt Crisp “intentionally” tried to hurt Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura with a hard slide when he was caught stealing.
“I protected my own players and that’s what we need to do around here,” Shields said. “We’ve been getting stomped around the last 10 years and it isn’t going to happen anymore. I had to let them know early and let them know right away.”
Crisp said he was upset with shortstop Jason Bartlett, not Iwamura, after Bartlett put his knee down in front of the bag on Crisp’s successful steal in the sixth Wednesday, saying he sprained his left thumb on a headfirst slide.
Jon Lester (4-3), making his first Fenway start since his no-hitter against Kansas City May 19, gave up one run and eight hits, struck out five, hit two batters and didn’t walk anyone in 6 1-3 innings. Mike Timlin worked 1 2-3 hitless innings and David Aardsma got the final three outs.
Ramirez’s three-run homer—the 503rd home run of his career—gave Boston a 3-0 lead in the first. Pedroia was hit on the left elbow by Shields (4-4) and J.D. Drew doubled before Ramirez’s drive cleared the seats above the Green Monster.
Ramirez’s right knee appeared to buckle when he took a pitch from Dan Wheeler in the seventh. Ramirez continued to flex his leg after drawing a walk before leaving for pinch runner Kevin Cash one batter later.
Gomes’ RBI single made it 3-1 in the second, but Pedroia had a sacrifice fly in the bottom half.
Drew’s bases-loaded walk and Ramirez’s two-run single through the shortstop hole made it 7-1 in the fourth.
Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury left the game with a strained right wrist after making a diving catch of Evan Longoria’s fourth-inning liner. X-rays were negative and Ellsbury is day to day. Ellsbury will be examined in the morning by the team’s medical staff.
Boston swept Tampa Bay in Fenway Park from May 2-4, the only other time the Rays have been swept this season.
Xtra, xtra: With the Celtics opening up the NBA finals against the Lakers about 3 miles away Thursday night, the starting time was pushed up one hour. Former Celtic John Havlicek threw out the first pitch after a montage of basketball highlights were shown on the center field scoreboard (Associated Press - Sports).
B.J. Upton was ejected for arguing a third strike. Dustin Pedroia was mad that a ball that appeared to be a homer was ruled foul. And Coco Crisp slid in hard to send a message.
That kind of emotion surfaces when teams are playing for first place—even if one is the perennial last-place Tampa Bay Rays.
“We’re neck and neck and they have a good ballclub,” Crisp said after the Boston Red Sox won 5-1 on Wednesday night and took one-half game lead over the Rays in the AL East. “So when you’re playing a team like that, you have to be at your best.”
Josh Beckett allowed one run in six innings, Crisp singled twice and stole a base and the Red Sox won their 12th straight home game.
Crisp was involved in a flareup in the eighth when he slid in on second baseman Akinori Iwamura and was out stealing. After Julio Lugo struck out, Rays manager Joe Maddon went to the mound to remove pitcher Jason Hammel, turned toward the Red Sox dugout and said something to Crisp.
“Everybody else on the mound started looking over there so I got louder,” Crisp said. “I don’t know if he could hear what I was saying but basically I just said, `I did that on my own so don’t punish anybody else on the team.”’
Crisp was upset with shortstop Jason Bartlett, not Iwamura, after Bartlett put his knee down in front of the bag on Crisp’s successful steal in the sixth. Crisp came out of that with a sprained left thumb that was bandaged after the game but may not sideline him.
“I told him … I’d get back on base and then I’m going to show him how I felt about it,” Crisp said. “It wasn’t as dramatic as it probably would have been if he would have covered the bag.”
Maddon said Crisp intended to injure Iwamura.
“There’s no place for that when you intentionally try to hurt somebody,” Maddon said.
Crisp said that wasn’t his intention and he and Iwamura—who said he wasn’t hurt—declared the matter closed.
Approached by reporters, Bartlett said, “if it’s about that, I don’t want to talk about it.”
The scariest moment for Beckett (6-4) came when his left foot slipped on the wet mound as it landed on a pitch to Cliff Floyd in the sixth. Red Sox manager Terry Francona and assistant trainer Mike Reinold went to the mound and Beckett stayed in the game and struck out Floyd.
Francona said he took Beckett out as a precaution after 92 pitches on a drizzly night.
“He said he was fine, but I didn’t see much sense in sending him back out,” Francona said.
He allowed seven hits and struck out five without a walk, the eighth time in 11 starts he walked one or no batters.
Despite ending 10 days in first place, the Rays are a franchise-high 11 games over .500 (35-24). Last season, they finished last for the ninth time in their 10 seasons, 30 games behind the division-winning Red Sox.
Edwin Jackson (3-5) said teams may play the Rays harder because of their success.
“Regardless of what people say, teams know the teams that are good and play hard,” he said.
J.D. Drew, batting third in place of the injured David Ortiz, continued his surge with an RBI double and a single. In Tuesday night’s 7-4 win over Tampa Bay, Drew had a two-run homer, a double and two outstanding catches in right field.
The Red Sox are 3-1 since Ortiz injured his left wrist on a swing Saturday night. He went on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday.
The full house of 37,474—Fenway Park has been sold out for 416 straight games—watched the Red Sox improve their major league-best home record to 23-5. They are 14-20 on the road.
Tampa Bay had won eight of its previous 10 games before losing the last two and dropping to 0-5 in Boston this season.
Boston took a 3-0 lead in the third after Crisp led off with a single. The runs scored on a single by Jacoby Ellsbury, the double by Drew and a single by Manny Ramirez, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
Eric Hinske’s broken-bat single drove in the Rays’ run in the fourth, but Crisp’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning made it 4-1. Boston added a run in the seventh on Kevin Youkilis’ bases-loaded single.
The Red Sox nearly scored in the first, but first-base umpire Jeff Kellogg ruled that Pedroia’s drive down the right-field line was foul. Replays showed the ball went into the stands on the fair side of the pole.
Xtra, xtra: Upton was ejected by home plate umpire Paul Emmel after taking a called third strike in the eighth. Upton said something to Emmel, who moved toward him and ejected him. Upton then threw his bat and helmet to the ground and argued while being held back by third base coach Tom Foley. Rays 1B Carlos Pena went on the 15-day DL with a broken left index finger that was injured when he was hit by a pitch from Boston’s Justin Masterson in the first inning Tuesday. OF Justin Ruggiano was called up from Triple-A Durham to fill Pena’s roster spot and replaced Upton in center in the eighth (Associated Press - Sports).
The Red Sox kept winning at home despite losing David Ortiz.
With every batter reaching base—and a slumping Coco Crisp driving in the go-ahead run—Boston won its 11th straight game at Fenway Park with a 7-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in a matchup of the AL’s top two teams Wednesday night.
“It’s just a matter of continuing to do what we do well,” J.D. Drew said, “getting big hits in key situations.”
Drew and Mike Lowell hit two-run homers in Boston’s first game after a 4-6 road trip. Drew also got a key walk in the four-run sixth that was followed by Jason Varitek’s tying RBI single and Crisp’s two-run double that made it 6-4. Jacoby Ellsbury’s sacrifice fly produced the final run.
Before the game, Ortiz sat at his locker with a hard cast covering most of his left arm to protect a partially torn sheath around the tendon in his left wrist. He’s expected to wear the cast for two to three weeks then work to strengthen the wrist for a return to the lineup at an unknown time.
“Even in the very beginning parts of the season, it wasn’t just Manny (Ramirez) and David,” said Jonathan Papelbon, who struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 17th save in 19 opportunities. “Now that David’s out, it’s even more noticeable that we do have a team where everybody contributes.”
In fact, the Red Sox did quite well even when Ortiz was going through one of the worst slumps of his career.
They were 4-2 in their first six home games even though he was 0-for-17. And they had a one-game division lead at the end of April despite his .184 batting average.
Ortiz is hitting .252 now and leads the team with 13 homers and 43 RBIs.
“They’ve definitely got a great lineup,” said Rays starter Matt Garza (4-2). “They’ve got a lot of pop in there and some guys that can sneak stuff through. That middle of the lineup still has a lot of pop even without Ortiz.”
Crisp snapped a 1-for-25 slump with his double in a game he wasn’t supposed to start.
Sean Casey was in the original lineup as the designated hitter with Crisp on the bench. But when left fielder Ramirez was shifted to DH because of sore legs, Crisp started in center and Ellsbury went from center to left.
“Crisp is the guy that’s been struggling, but he looked good tonight,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “It’s a good homecourt advantage and then you combine that with the quality of hitters, you’ve got to pitch well and we didn’t.”
The Red Sox are 22-5 at home where their winning streak matched the Rays for the longest in the AL this season. Boston cut Tampa Bay’s lead in the division to a half game, although the Rays are 12 games over .500, eight more than their previous best during their 11-year history.
Rookie Justin Masterson (2-0) allowed four runs in six innings in his third major league start for Boston. Craig Hansen got out of a first-and-second jam with no outs in the eighth by retiring the next three batters.
“My performance was OK,” Masterson said. “The team’s performance was great.”
Garza started the sixth with a 4-3 lead but hit the first batter, Kevin Youkilis, with a pitch. He went to second on an error by shortstop Jason Bartlett on Ramirez’s grounder, only the 24th error by the Rays, the fewest in the majors.
“I don’t think it necessarily rattled (Garza),” Maddon said. “It was just a bad start to that inning.”
Drew then walked to load the bases with one out.
“I was able to lay off some tough pitches and get the walk,” Drew said, “and the inning kind of took off from there.”
Varitek followed with a run-scoring single that tied the game at 4. Crisp then doubled low off the left-field wall, scoring Ramirez and Drew.
Akinori Iwamura led off the game with his third homer of the season, then Masterson held the Rays scoreless until consecutive doubles by B.J. Upton and Carlos Pena in the fourth tied the game 2-2.
The Red Sox had taken a 2-1 lead in the second on Lowell’s eighth homer, a two-run shot after Ramirez singled.
Drew’s sixth homer gave Boston a 3-2 lead in the fourth, but Tampa Bay went ahead in the sixth on Pena’s two-run homer, following a walk to Upton.
Xtra, xtra: Carl Crawford didn’t start after having an MRI on his right hamstring in Birmingham, Ala. He returned just before the game and hit into a fielder’s choice groundout as a pinch hitter in the eighth. Iwamura’s homer was the fourth of his career and second of the season leading off the first inning for the Rays (Associated Press - Sports).
A weekend of wasted scoring opportunities left Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen fuming and promising changes.
“There’s only one message I’m going to send. Just get ready because I expect movement on Tuesday,” Guillen said Sunday after the AL Central leaders lost their third straight game to the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays, 4-3 in 10 innings.
The White Sox went 5-for-39 with runners in scoring position during the four-game series, including 2-of-14 Sunday, when they stranded the potential go-ahead run at third base after getting a leadoff double in the top of the 10th.
Gabe Gross won it for the Rays, leading off the bottom of the inning with a home run for Tampa Bay’s second walk-off victory in three days. Cliff Floyd’s ninth-inning homer beat Chicago on Friday night, and Floyd homered again in the Rays’ 2-0 victory Saturday.
“I expect (general manager) Kenny (Williams) to do something Tuesday. Because if we don’t do anything Tuesday, there’s (going to be) a lot of change in the lineup. That’s all I’m going to say about the offense,” said Guillen, whose comments were spiced with an occasional expletive.
But the manager wasn’t finished.
“It could be me. It could be (hitting coach) Greg Walker, the players, anybody,” Guillen said. “I’m sick and tired watching this for a year and a half. I’m not protecting anybody anymore.”
Gross, making a rare start against left-handed pitching, lined a two-run triple off Mark Buehrle to make it 3-all in the fifth. The left-handed hitter then delivered his first career homer off a lefty on an 0-2 offering from Matt Thornton (1-1).
“I’ve never really thought about hitting a walk-off. But if I had, it wouldn’t have lived up to this,” said Gross, who was 6-for-64 lifetime against left-handers before his triple.
The surprising Rays maintained their one-game division lead over Boston, and they take their league-best record of 35-22 to Fenway Park for the start of a three-game series Tuesday night. Tampa Bay is 13 games over .500 for the first time in the team’s 11-season history.
“We’re getting to the point now where we’re not satisfied with yesterday’s win,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “It’s a whole team effort right now. … I think every night we go out there is a good barometer. There are no breaks (in the schedule).”
The series finale against the White Sox drew a crowd of 24,720. That was down from the sellout of 36,048 on Saturday night, when the big attraction was a postgame concert by country music star Trace Adkins, but well above the Rays’ AL-worst season average of 18,228.
J.P. Howell (4-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the victory, which enabled Tampa Bay to go 8-2 on the team’s longest homestand of the year. The Rays have won 10 of their last 12 series, including seven straight at home since losing two of three to the White Sox six weeks ago.
This time, Tampa Bay turned the tables to win three of four against Chicago, which got decent starting pitching but sputtered offensively in key situations.
The heart of the White Sox lineup—Carlos Quentin, Jermaine Dye, Jim Thome and Paul Konerko—had one homer and two RBIs in the series.
“It’s a little of everything,” Konerko said about the team’s lack of production with runners in scoring position. “Good pitching. Bad decision making.”
And, as for Guillen’s comments about possible changes?
“He’s the manager. He can do what he wants,” Konerko said. “That doesn’t change what happened today.”
The White Sox were 2-of-9 with runners in scoring position against Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine, who gave up a two-run double to Alexei Ramirez in the second and Orlando Cabrera’s RBI single in the fifth to fall behind 3-1.
But Chicago’s inability to make the most of its early opportunities helped the Rays remain in the game.
B.J. Upton tripled and scored Tampa Bay’s first run in the fourth. Jonny Gomes and Shawn Riggans doubled in the fifth before Gross lined his triple to make it 3-all against Buehrle, who allowed seven hits in six innings.
Sonnanstine, who pitched a three-hitter to beat Buehrle 5-0 at Tropicana Field on April 19, allowed three runs and 10 hits in 5 2-3 innings.
Chicago squandered two scoring chances late, including the 10th inning, when it stranded pinch-runner Pablo Ozuna at third base after getting a leadoff double from Thome.
Xtra, xtra: Despite driving in Tampa Bay’s first run, Carlos Pena continues to struggle at the plate. He was 2-for-15 with eight strikeouts in the series (Associated Press - Sports).
Maybe it’s time to stop calling the Tampa Bay Rays surprising.
