There were no surprises from the starting pitching yesterday as both Jeremy Hellickson and the Angels' C.J. Wilson pitched very well. Helly allowed one run in six excellent innings of work, while Wilson let up a pair of runs through seven strong innings.
The scoring didn't open up until the bottom of the third inning, when Zobrist blasted a solo homer into the left-field seats to make it a 1-0 game. Carlos Pena singled following the home run, and later scored in the inning via an RBI double from Jeff Keppinger.
The Angels would respond in the fourth, though. Vernon Wells blasted a line-drive solo homer to cut the deficit down to one.
In the bottom of the eighth, Wilson was replaced by former Ray Jason Isringhausen. Isringhausen was wild, walking four Rays batters including and RBI walk by Brandon Allen in his first plate appearance with the team.
Fernando Rodney came in to close out the 3-1 game in the ninth, but it wouldn't be a smooth and silky as usual. With a man on third and two outs, Ben Zobrist mishandled an easy groundball to reduce the Rays' lead to 3-2. However, Los Angeles would not complete the comeback, as the next batter flied out to end the game. Rodney picked up his sixth save of the season, and the Rays improved to 11-7 (7-1 at home).
Some notable stat lines from last night's game:
- J. Hellickson (W, 3-0): 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 5 K. ERA now 2.84.
- C. Wilson (L, 2-2): 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 11 K
- D. Jennings: 1-4, BB
- B. Zobrist: 1-4, HR, RBI, E4
- C. Pena: 1-4, R, 3 K
- E. Longoria: 0-2, R, 2 BB
- J. Keppinger: 1-3, RBI
- W. Davis (H,2): 1 H, 0 ER, 1 K through 1.0 IP
- J. Peralta (H, 4): 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K through 1.0 IP
- F. Rodney (S, 6): 1 H, 0 ER (1 R) through 1.0 IP
Rays news and notes:
- Around the division: Boston swept the Twins in Minnesota with a 7-6 victory yesterday, the Yankees fell 7-3 in Arlington to the Rangers, and the Orioles shutout Toronto 3-0. The Yankees announced yesterday that Michael Pineda will miss the entire 2012 season with a shoulder tear.
- Joe Maddon announced what the Rays' first trip theme will be this season.
- Jason Collette of DRaysBay writes a follow-up of the Rays' stadium situation.
Written by:
