The Tampa Bay Rays split their last two home games with the Oakland Athletics. Even though the A’s have traded off some main pieces they remain a very competitive team. The Rays lost on Tuesday 8-1 but responded with a 4-3 win on Wednesday afternoon. The Rays are now 59-41 through 100 games.
Andy Sonnanstine started on Tuesday and actually pitcher much better than the final score shows. He did take the loss, however. Sonnanstine lasted seven innings and gave up only three runs. Trever Miller came on in the 8th and coughed up three runs, a pair of another relievers gave up two more runs as the game out of hand. The Rays actually had a brief lead. Carlos Pena hit a sacrifice fly in the third to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. Carl Crawford led the way for the Rays with two hits. Not a single Tampa player had an extra base hit.
James Shields got the start on Wednesday afternoon and pitched very well. Shields pitched into the ninth inning and lasted 8.1 innings before getting pulled. Shields was charged with all three Oakland runs and struck out seven batters. Troy Percival got the last two outs of the game to pick up his twentieth save of the season. The A’s had an early 2-0 lead in this game before the Rays came charging back. They got two runs in the fifth on a Jonny Gomes two run homer. Ben Zobrist gave the Rays the lead in the fifth on a solo home run and tacked on an RBI single in the seventh.
The Rays will now hit the road to play the Kansas City Royals on Thursday. Matt Garza is scheduled to start on the mound. Game time is 8:10pm.
