Sunday greeted the Bay area and the Tampa Bay Rays with the prospect of sweeping the visiting Minnesota Twins just a week removed from the opening-week funk. Well that didn't happen, to the dismay of the 22,426 fans at Tropicana Field, but the team played well in defeat.
"We really hit the ball well today," said manager Joe Maddon. "We did a lot of things well today; they just came out on top. They made the plays in the crucial moments but three out of four is always good."
The Rays opened the scoring – yes, really – in the bottom of the third. Elliot Johnson hit a one-out double and advanced to third on Sam Fuld’s base hit. Johnny Damon took a ball on the finger attempting to bunt in his subsequent at-bat and had to be examined by trainers. He responded with a single up the middle on the next pitch, giving him an RBI in six consecutive games, a new career record. Fuld was thrown out trying to reach third on the play, else he would have scored on B.J. Upton’s follow-up base hit.
This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2011.