After winning the opening game of their series with the Pittsburgh Pirates the Tampa Bay lost on Saturday night but finished off the series with a win on Sunday afternoon. The Rays lost in 13 innings on Saturday night by a score of 4-3 and then won on Sunday afternoon by the same score. The Rays are now 49-32 on the season.
Edwin Jackson started Saturday’s game and turned in a solid performance. Jackson lasted 6.2 inning and gave up three earned runs. Gary Glover added three innings of relief pitching and allowed no runs. His performance really helped the Rays stay in this game. However, Jason Hammel came on in relief of Glover and gave up a Jason Bay home run in the bottom of the 13th to end the game. Jason Bartlett was the only Ray with more than one hit, he also drew a walk. Jonny Gomes hit a solo home run in the 8th to force extra innings. Evan Longoria added a sacrifice fly.
On Sunday Andy Sonnanstine started for the Rays and turned in his longest outing since May 16th. He lasted 7 innings on Sunday and gave up two runs and only one of them was earned. Sonnanstine struck out four to help him earn his ninth win of the season. Dan Wheeler threw a scoreless 8th inning and Troy Percival threw a scoreless ninth to pick up his 19th save of the season. Shawn Riggans hit a solo home run in the fourth to start the scoring in the game. Riggans added a pair of singles and led the club with two RBI. Carl Crawford struggled at the plate as he went 0-5 with three RBI. The Rays struck out ten times and left eleven men on base or they could have done some more damage.
The Rays have wrapped up their inter league schedule and will start a huge series with the Boston Red Sox on Monday in Tampa Bay. James Shields is scheduled to start the opening game. Game time is 7:10pm.
