The Tampa Bay Rays started Spring Training off right with a 9-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in Port Charlotte. Ace David Price started the game on the hill for the Rays, striking out Jose Tabata to officially start the 2011 Rays campaign. In his one inning pitched, DP yielded a base hit and walked his former college teammate Pedro Alvarez.
Pittsburgh got on the board in the second inning. Lyle Overbay led off with a single off reliever Adam Russell, who then hit DH Ryan Doumit with a pitch. Chris Snyder’s base hit loaded the bags and Overbay scored on Ronny Cedeno’s fielder’s choice. Tabata’s single brought Doumit in to score before Neil Walker grounded into a 6-3 double play.
The Rays were quiet offensively in the early going; after a strong ovation from the crowd, Manny Ramirez started his Rays career with a base hit but was out on B.J. Upton’s 6-4-3 double play. Tampa Bay finally got on the board in the fourth, courtesy of Evan Longoria’s first home run of Spring Training, a shot crushed deep to dead center field. Ramirez, Longoria, Johnny Damon and John Jaso headed to the clubhouse after the fourth. Sean Rodriguez added a long ball in the fifth inning, sending the first pitch he saw into the Pirates bullpen in left field and tying the score. After the fifth, the rest of the line up flipped and the remaining starters went to the clubhouse.
This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 2, 2011.