Rays Blog

The Tampa Bay Rays took game one of their series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.  The Rays got some terrific pitching from Andy Sonnanstine who helped lead them to a 3-1 victory.  The surprising Rays are now 25-17 this season.

Sonnanstine was terrific once again on the mound as he improved his record this season to 6-1.  Sonnanstine pitched eight innings, giving up only one run on eight hits.  He struck out four and the key was in his walking no one.  He threw 76 strikes and 22 balls, his control was remarkable.  Troy Percival threw a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his 11th save of the season.

The Rays jumped out to a 3-0 off of Braden Looper of the Cardinals.  In the third inning they got RBI singles from Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena.  They tacked on one more run in the fourth inning on an Akinori Iwamura RBI single.  Iwamura, hitting lead off, led the Rays with three hits tonight.  Longoria, Bartlett and Sonnanstine had two hits apiece.

The Rays and Cardinals will go it again tomorrow afternoon.  Matt Garza, coming off  a nice start against the Yankees will start for the Rays.  Game time is 1:10pm.

The Skinny:  The Tampa Bay Rays took a very impressive series against the New York Yankees.  The Rays 5-2 win today over the Yankees gave them a three game to one series win over New York.  The win keeps the Rays in first in the AL East and drops the Yankees into last.

The Pitching:  Scott Kazmir started today for Tampa and was terrific.  Kazmir, still recovering from an injury, threw six shut out innings to bring his record to 2-1 on the season and dropped his ERA to 1.69.  Dan Wheeler threw a perfect 8th inning with two K’s and and Troy Percival threw a perfect 9th inning for his 10th save of the season.

The Hitting:  The Rays got off to a 5-0 lead by scoring in four of the first five innings off Yankee starter Ian Kennedy.  Akinori Iwamura had a pair of hits and a pair of runs as did Shawn Riggans.  Evan Longoria went 0-3 with three K’s and Carlos Pena was 0-4 with two K’s.  The big blow for the Rays was a two run homer by Riggans in the fourth inning.

What’s Next?:  The Rays will head to St. Louis to start a series with the Cardinals on Friday night.  Andy Sonnanstine will start on Friday night, bringing his 5-1 record to the mound.  Game time is 8:15pm.

The Skinny:  The Rays pitching continued to dominate the Yankees tonight but the offense just wasn’t up to the challenge.  Tampa Bay’s pitching has shut down the Yankees so far in their series but tonight the batters couldn’t muster up enough runs as the Rays fell, 2-1.  They are now 23-17.

The Pitching:  James Shields kept up his end of the bargain.  Shields went 7.1 innings and gave up only two runs.  He got hit with a loss to drop to 4-3 on the season but lowered his ERA to 3.05.  Shields threw 102 pitches and didn’t give up any home runs to the powerful Yankee line up.

The Hitting:  The Rays got their only run of the night on a Dioner Navarro single in the seventh inning, it was all they could get off of veteran Mike Mussina.  Carlos Pena, Cliff Floyd and Navarro each had two hits for the Rays while the rest of the line up could pick up only one more hit (a Gabe Gross double).  The top of the Rays line up, Iwamura, Crawford and Upton went a combined 0-11 with four strike outs.

What’s Next?: The Rays will finish their series with the Yankees tomorrow at 4:10.  They will then head to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals in some inter-league games.  Starting on the mound tomorrow will be Scott Kazmir and his new contract.

The Tampa Bay Rays announced today that they have signed their staff ace to a contract extension.  Scott Kazmir got a three extension on his deal worth $28.5 million.  There are options in the deal that could extend it to a total of four years and a value just shy of $40 million.  The three year deal keeps Kazmir a Ray 2011.

The Skinny:  The Rays got some great pitching again against a quality opponent and beat the New York Yankees tonight, 2-1.  The Rays were up 1-0 in the 9th when Hideki Matsui hit a HR to tie it up.  The Rays however got to Mariano Rivera in the 11th inning.  The Rays are now 23-16.

The Pitching:  Edwin Jackson brought his “A” game tonight.  Jackson threw seven shut out innings against the Yankees, striking out five batters and allowing only five hits.  Troy Percival gave up the home run to Matsui in the 9th that allowed the Yankees to tie the game.  JP Howell came on after Percival and threw two scoreless innings to get the win.

The Batting:  The Rays got their first run on Hinske single that scored Carlos Pena.  They got their game winning run on a Gabe Gross single that scored pinch runner, Jonny Gomes.  Iwamura, Floyd, and Navarro each had two hits for the Rays and a healthy Cliff Floyd will do wonders for the Rays line up.

What’s Next?:  The Rays have two more games in this four game series with the Yankees.  Tomorrow’s game will start at 7:10 pm.  James Shields will start on the mound against Mike Mussina.

The Skinny:  After a very successful weekend, the Rays topped the New York Yankees on Monday night in Tampa Bay.  The Rays got some great pitching from Matt Garza as they won 7-1.  The Rays are now 22-16 this season.

The Pitching:  Matt Garza got the start for the Rays and was the man.  Garza lasted seven innings and gave up zero runs to the tough Yankees line up.  Glover and Miller threw the last two innings to close out the game.

The Hitting:  The Rays batters got to Yankees starter Andy Pettitte.  Dioner Navarro led the Rays with three hits and he also drove in two runs.  Iwamura, Gomes, and Evan Longoria each had two hits to help the Rays pile on the runs.

What’s Next?:  The Rays and Yankees will continue their series Tuesday night in Tampa.  Edwin Jackson will start for the Rays and Chien-Ming Wang will go for the Yankees.

The Skinny:  The Tampa Bay Rays completed a very impressive series over the Los Angeles Angles with a win this afternoon in Tampa.  The Rays swept the AL West leading Angels with their 8-5 win today and are now 21-16 on the season.

The Pitching:  Andy Sonnanstine got the start for the Rays today and did not have his best stuff.  Sonnanstine hung in there for five innings but gave up five runs on eight hits and received a no-decision.  JP Howell relieved Sonnanstine and was absolutely terrific.  Howell threw three shut out innings against the Angels and gave up only one hit.  Troy Percival threw a scoreless ninth inning for his ninth save of the year.

The Hitting:  The Rays bats got off to a hot start this afternoon, posting three runs in the first inning and going up 3-0.  The Angels charged back and held a 5-4 lead in the heading into the sixth inning.  However, Carl Crawford hit a three run homer to put the Rays up for good and helped secure the win.  Iwamura, Crawford, and Upton, the top three in the Rays line up combined to go 9-15 and scored 7 of the teams 8 runs.

What’s Next?:  The Rays will welcome the New York Yankees to town for a three game series starting tomorrow night.  Matt Garza will start for the Rays. Game time is 7:10pm.

The Skinny:  Scott Kazmir, making his second start of the season, led the Tampa Bay Rays to a 2-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday.  The Rays offense couldn’t get it going, but the Rays pitching kept the Angels off of the board.  The Rays are now 20-16.

The Pitching:  After missing the first month of the season, Kazmir appears to be on track after only two starts.  He went six innings, giving up only three hits while striking out six hitters.  The Rays bullpen threw three scoreless innings, including a scoreless ninth by Troy Percival who picked up his eighth save of the year.  Kazmir improved to 1-1 on the year as he threw 108 pitches.

The Hitting:  Not a lot of offense to speak of, but it was enough to win.  Evan Longoria grounded into a fielder’s choice in the first inning that scored a run to put the Rays up 1-0.  They scored again in the eighth inning on a Carlos Pena sacrifice fly.  Akinori Iwamura collected three hits for the Rays while Jason Bartlett had two.

What’s Next?:  The Rays will wrap up their series with the Angels this afternoon.  Andy Sonnanstine will start for the Rays.  Game time is 1:40pm.

The Skinny:  The Rays started their series with the Angles this evening and were part of a good old fashioned pitchers duel.  Jon Garland was great for the Angels but James Shields was just a bit better for the Rays.  The Rays won 2-0, all the runs coming in the bottom of the ninth on an Evan Longoria HR.  The Rays are now 19-16 this season.

The Pitching:  Shields was the story of the game tonight in Tampa.  He threw a complete game shut out, allowing only one hit on 92 pitches.  Without a doubt this will be one of the best games thrown all year in the majors.  Shields struck out eight Angel hitters including Torii Hunter twice.  The only hit he allowed was a single to Brandon Wood.  Shields is now 4-2 on the year with an ERA of 3.14.

The Hitting:  Since all the runs came on one swing of the bat, there wasn’t much more going on.  Longoria’s HR in the ninth came with one out in 9th off of Angels reliever Justin Speier.  BJ Upton also scored on the homer.  The HR was Longoria’s only hit of the game.  The only Ray player with more than one hit was Carlos Pena who had two hits.

What’s Next?:  The Rays and Angels will go at it again tomorrow night in Tampa.  Scott Kazmir will be making his second start of the season.  Game time is 7:10pm.

The Skinny:  The Tampa Bay Rays scored three runs in the first twelve innings of the game tonight against the Jays, but put up five in the thirteenth and final inning.  The Rays took their series with their division rival and are now 18-16 on the year.

The Pitching:  Edwin Jackson started for the Rays and was almost perfect.  Jackson threw eight shut out innings, striking out three but only walking one hitter.  Jackson lowered his ERA to 4.04 on the year.  The Rays brought on Troy Percival in the ninth to close it out and he just didn’t get it done.  Up until tonight he hadn’t given up a run all season, but coughed up three in the 9th to allow the Jays to tie it up.  JP Howell threw three scoreless innings to get the win.

The Hitting:  The Rays got homers in the fifth and seventh innings to go up 3-0 heading into the ninth inning.  After allowing the Jays to tie it up in the ninth, the Rays got five runs in the 13th inning.  They went up 4-3 on a Carl Crawford sacrifice fly and then blew it wide open with a Dioner Navarro grand slam to make it 8-3.  Navarro went 3-6 with 4 RBI to lead the Rays offense.

What’s Next?:  The Rays have wrapped up their series with the Rays and are now getting ready to take on the Los Angeles Angels.  James Shields will get the start in the opener on Friday night.  Game time is 7:10pm.