After an impressive sweep against the Boston Red Sox, the Tampa Bay Rays have kept up their hot play. They took two games against the Royals this weekend with wins of 11-2 and 3-0. The two wins moved the Rays to 54-32 on the season.
Edwin Jackson started on the hill on Friday night in the Rays 11-2 victory. Jackson went 8 strong innings, giving up two runs. He struck out only two batters but gave up only one walk and four hits. Jackson is now 5-6 this season. Jason Hammel threw a scoreless ninth inning to cap off the victory. The Rays went up 7-0 in the fifth inning after a three run homer by Carlos Pena. Pena went 2-5 with 5 RBI while Carl Crawford went 3-5 while scoring three runs. Evan Longoria had three hits and Dioner Navarro added two hits.
Andy Sonnanstine started on Saturday and was very sharp. Sonnanstine threw seven shutout innings to pick up his tenth win of the season, he is 10-3 on the season. JP Howell struck out the side in the 8th inning and Grant Balfour struck out two in the ninth inning to pick up his third save. The Rays got two runs in the second inning on an Akinori Iwamura double. They added their third and final run in the seventh inning on a Ben Zobrist solo home run. Navarro, Cliff Floyd, and Crawford each had two hits.
On Sunday the Rays will go for their third straight against the Royals. James Shields will start for the Rays. Game time is 1:40pm.
