In order to win today, the Rays needed nearly everything to go right… And, well, just that happened. David Price lasted eight innings while holding the Blue Jays to four runs, and both Johnny Damon and Ben Zobrist had homeruns to power the Rays offense to a 6-4 victory. This win snapped a two-game losing streak and brought the Rays back to within one win of .500.
Brandon Morrow was pitching for the Blue Jays, and the Rays probably got lucky that this was his first start of the season. He gave the Rays’ hitters fits, striking out 10 batters and generating 14 swinging strikes, but he was held to a lower pitch count and only lasted through 5.1 innings. He also allowed a first-inning homerun to Johnny Damon, giving the Rays an early 2-0 lead, and walked a batter in the sixth inning that came around to score on Ben Zobrist’s homerun. His velocity didn’t decrease as the game went along, but his command did get worse toward the end of his start.
David Price wasn’t quite as dominant as Brandon Morrow, striking out five batters and allowing 10 baserunners over his eight innings pitched, but he did hold the Blue Jays to only four runs. If not for Jose Bautista, though, Price’s final line would look a lot better; Bautista had three hits against Price, including two homeruns, and he had a hand in three of the Jays’ four runs.
The ninth inning was a little interesting. David Price didn’t quite have the strength to finish out the game, and he allowed a run on a single, double, and another single before being replaced by Kyle Farnsworth. Farnsworth allowed one more run to score, but then got three infield outs to close out the game without any more damage.
The Rays and Jays will finish their three-game series tomorrow at 1:05 PM. James Shields will be facing Ricky Romero.