- Kevin Tall
- Stock photo
Tit for tat.
That’s been the story of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles in 2011.
Whether swapping sweeps in the first two series or back-to-back, complete-game shutouts over the weekend, these two clubs have played by the mantra that turnabout is fair play.
That ended Sunday afternoon with the one-sided beating the visiting black birds gave the home team Rays, tuning up Tampa Bay pitchers for nine runs on 15 hits.
Tampa Bay’s three on eight wasn’t going to be enough, for all the mathematically-challenged out there.
Things started out evenly enough. After trading one-two-three halves of the first, each team got their respective leadoff man aboard in the second inning. Vladimir Guerrero doubled in the top half of the frame whereas Evan Longoria picked up a base hit to right field.
The difference, of course, it that Matt Wieters’ two-out single scored Guerrero, but the Rays were unable to advance Longoria.
Rays starting pitcher Andy Sonnanstine, getting a break from the bullpen, struggled again in his second start of the past week. Sonny gave up too much solid contact to the Orioles at the plate and was charged with four runs on eight hits through his five innings pitched, including a leadoff home run by Nick Markakis in his final frame.
“Andy’s just trying to pitch through it,” said Rays manager Joe Maddon. “He has not pitched a lot. I thought he was going to settle in there for a little bit, leaving with 3 points would have been great but that home run by Markakis was kind of a big run.
Opinions vary on Sonnanstine but it’s hard to argue against how poorly his second start of 2011 went, whether he holds the blame for the loss or not. The upside is he didn’t walk a single batter.
Baltimore bullied the bullpen as well, notching as many runs in a single inning as they did through the five innings Sonnanstine pitched.
This article appears in May 19-25, 2011.
