The Tampa Bay Rays invited the best team in baseball into Tropicana Field and sent them out with a loss. The Rays beat the league leading Cubs 3-2 on Tuesday night. The Rays are now 41-29.
Scott Kazmir started for the Rays but wasn’t able to get through the fifth inning. He needed 110 pitches to get through 4.2 innings before he was wisely pulled from the game. The Rays don’t want to take any chances with an arm like Kazmir and didn’t want him to throw any more pitches. In his 4.2 innings he gave up four walks, 3 hits, and struck out seven. Grant Balfour got his first win of the year after coming on for Kazmir. Troy Percival gave up a run in the ninth but managed to close things down to get his 16th save of the season.
The Rays got on the board in the second inning courtesy of a Cliff Floyd solo home run. They tacked on their second run in the sixth inning when Evan Longoria hit a solo home run. They scored their third and final run in the seventh inning on an Eric Hinske RBI single. Jason Bartlett was the only Ray player to pick up two hits.
The Rays and Cubs will play again on Wednesday night. Andy Sonnanstine will start for the Rays against Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs. Game time is 7:10pm
June 19th, 2008 at 3:38 am
It was nice to see the support that the Rays had in fans being able to make more noise than the visiting team. Cubs chants were quickly drowned out with chants and cheers for the home team. Go Rays…….
June 19th, 2008 at 10:22 am
What exciting baseball!! We love the “Rays” and believe there will be many more “conversions in the near future. Our players make us proud by their professionalism, their tolerance, and their teamwork. The guys in the booth aren’t bad either. Joe, Dwayne, and that strapping young lad