Who would have thought a week ago, with the Rays having lost the first six games of the 2011 season, that they’d hear the words “winning” at all, much less in the same sentence as “streak”? Clearly the Rays knew they had it in them and brought it out Thursday night at Tropicana Field for a 4-3 win in the first of four against the Minnesota Twins. Matt Joyce picked up 2RBI in the bottom of the ninth to stave off a sure defeat and Johnny Damon sealed the deal with a two-run shot to right field in the 10th.
All was quiet in the early goings of this outing. Rays righty James Shields, originally scheduled to start last night against the Boston Redsox, took the hill for Tampa Bay at the too-early-for-baseball local time of 6:40 p.m. The Twins managed at least a base hit in each of the first three innings. Or at least the first two; clearly the legendary Sam Fuld chose not to catch that “double” awarded to Michael Cuddyer in the third frame. Interesting post-script: Cuddyer now faces fines and possible suspension for using a Kryptonite-corked bat. Well… he should, at least…
The Rays, in contrast, were hitting – or not, rather – like they had better places to be for the better part of the game . The first four and a half frames sailed by in an hour and the game was on pace to be shorter than the 2:08 home opener/stinker against the Baltimore Orioles.
This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2011.