The Tampa Bay Rays ended their series with the Cleveland Indians in impressive fashion. Heading into the bottom of the ninth inning the Rays found themselves down 7-4. They came back strong with six innings in the bottom of the ninth to pick up a remarkable 10-7 victory. The win moves the Rays to 68-45 on the season.
Rays ace Scott Kazmir got the start on the mound but got hit around a little bit. Kazmir lasted only 4.1 innings and gave up 5 earned runs. He gave up nine hits and struck out 4, he threw 97 pitches. Troy Percival got the win after getting two outs in the top of the ninth without allowing a run.
Trailing 7-4 in the ninth inning, Eric Hinske smacked an RBI double to cut the Cleveland lead to 7-5. Gabe Gross followed Hinske with a two run homer to tie the game up. Akinori then legged out an infield single and that was followed by a Ben Zobrist walk. That set the stage for Carlos Pena who crushed a pitch to centerfield that cleared the wall and gave the Rays the 10-7 win. Cleveland didn’t record an out in the ninth inning.
The Rays hit the road immediately to head out to Seattle where they will start a series on Thursday night. Andy Sonnanstine is scheduled to start the opener for Tampa Bay. Game time is 10:10pm.
