The Tampa Bay Rays ended a miserable June on a high note, roughing up the rival Red Sox in their own house by the score of 9-4. Tampa’s team came into this outing with some momentum, with Matt Garza winning in his last start and the late-game hitting surge in the previous night’s loss. They now leave Boston with even more momentum and head into their first ever series in the Minnesota Twins’ new ballpark, Target Field, gaining a game on Boston and the New York Yankees, who lost 7-0 to the Seattle Mariners. The Rays are currently two games back in the America League East race.
The Rays started off with business as usual, stranding four base runners in the first two innings against starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. They scored three runs in the fourth, two on Kelly Shoppach’s deep double to center field, with Matt Joyce and John Jaso coming in. Shoppach would score from second on Big Ben Zobrist’s single. Then, in an effort to get me to stop complaining about stranded base runners, they failed to reach base until a huge eighth inning, the exception being Joyce, who was hit by a pitch and caught stealing in the fifth.
This article appears in Jul 1-7, 2010.