Rays score five in the 7th, beat Birds 8-1
Winning pitcher Andy Sonnanstine allows just one run and six hits over eight innings. Eric Hinske's two-run homer in the third gives Tampa a 3-1 lead. Rays break it open with a 5-run 7th inning featuring two-run singles from Carlos Pena and Dioner Navarro.
O's only run scores on a Brian Roberts RBI hit in the third inning. Roberts has two hits to extend his batting streak to ten games.
RAYS ROUT O'S 8-1 TO EVEN SERIES
The Tampa Bay Rays scored five runs in the 7th inning tonight to blow the game open and beat the O's 8-1. The three-game series is even at a win each and both clubs are now 15-12.
The Rays batted 11 in that inning using four hits and four walks to get the five runs.
Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine improved to 4-1. He gave up just one run and six hits, all singles, in eight innings. He lowered his ERA from 5.28 to 4.42.
The Rays have won seven of their last 8 games. The O's fall to 10-5 in home games.
After Tampa scored one off starter Matt Albers in the second, a Brian Roberts RBI single in the third, tied the game at one.
Eric Hinske's two-run homer in the 4th put Tampa in the lead for good at 3-1. It was his 6th of the year and second vs. the Birds.
Tampa blew the game open scoring five runs in the 7th off Bob McCrory and Dennis Sarfate. The inning featured two-run singles by Carlos Pena and Dioner Navarro.
McCrory, in his major-league debut, allowed four runs and two walks in just a third of an inning.
O's starter Matt Albers gave up three runs and four hits in six frames.
The final game of the series is set for 12:35pm Thursday with the O's Brian Burres (3-1 2.49) facing Tampa's Matt Garza (0-0 7.62).
POST GAME NEWS AND NOTES
QUITE A WHIPPING
The Rays hand the O's their second worst loss of the year, surpassed only by the 11-3 defeat on April 15 vs. Toronto. The Rays bang out nine hits, had three players with two RBI each and, at 15-12, complete their best April ever. This is also the latest in a season they've been three games over .500
ANDY WAS DANDY
Andy Sonnanstine entered with an ERA of 5.28 and career ERA vs. the Birds of 8.04, but he shut down the team tonight that scored seven runs last night. He threw 102 pitches in eight innings allowing just six singles. Two starts ago he pitched a complete-game, three-hit shutout vs. the White Sox, the club that leads the league in runs scored per game. He is the first Ray to win four games in April.
TEMPER, TEMPER
The O's Dennis Sarfate would not comment on what happened in the top of the 8th. Before he delivered a 2-2 pitch to Carlos Pena, he and Pena had words. Some Rays started to come out of their dugout, but nothing came of it. Sarfate then got Pena to hit into an inning-ending double play ball.
Rays manager Joe Madden told reporters Sarfate angered Pena by telling him to get back into the batters box.
WINNING APRIL
For now, the O's have an April record of 14-12 (they played one game in March) as the month ends. Once they finish that suspended game in August, it will be reflected on their April record. Still, they are assured of a winning month. Their last winning April was in 2005, when they went 16-7.
B-ROB'S STREAK
Brian Roberts had two singles and a walk in four at bats, to extend his hitting streak to ten games. He is batting .351 (13-37) during the streak, with 8 runs scored and 7 RBI. His average for the season is up to .280.
BUT THEY WEREN'T SHUTOUT
No they were not, but this is the 5th time this season they were held to just one run. The O's began the day 11th in the league in runs scored, 11th in OBP, 9th in batting average, but 4th in home runs.
QUOTABLE
Dave Trembley on the loss
"Sonnanstine pitched better and threw strikes. Albers did a nice job in a spot start. One pitch he probably wants back, to Hinske......McCrory was probably nervous..He's got a great arm, he just wasn't around the plate enough. He'll be better next time.........Sonnanstine threw all his pitches for strikes and kept the ball down."
Bob McCrory on his outing
"Honestly, I wasn't nervous, I just didn't get the job done. I felt as good as I did in any game I've ever pitched in, just didn't get it done. I was excited but not nervous. I'll get over that and be ready next time they call my name."
Dennis Sarfate points the finger at himself
"I came in and gave up Bob's runs. I'm not going to comment on what happened in the next inning, but as a reliever I can't go in there and walk guys. A guy had his major-league debut tonight and instead of having a great feeling he leaves with that. I fell behind guys and didn't get it done..........I let my team down, it goes from 3-1 to 8-1.....I'm still confident, I just didn't make my pitches tonight."
Steve Melewski's live GameBlog from Camden Yards
TOUGH DEBUT.....TOUGHER INNING
Rays 8 O's 1.......middle of seventh
Too bad for McCrory in his first major-league game. He came on and gave up an infield hit, two walks and an RBI single to put Tampa up 4-1. He pitched just one-third. Then Dennis Sarfate came on and was greeted with a BJ Upton RBI single, that run charged to McCrory.
The hitting continued vs. Sarfate as Carlos Pena and Dioner Navarro added two-riun singles....
McCrory's line: .1ip, 2h, 4r-er, 2b, 0k.
Meanwhile, Sonnanstine has retired the last 11 O's batters he has faced.
PITCHING CHANGE
TB 3 O's 1......end of six
Bob McCrory has come on for Matt Albers in the top of the seventh. This is his major league debut.
Matt Albers tonight: 6ip, 4h, 3r-er, 1b, 2k, 1 hr.....94 pitches.
BIG HAND FOR ERNIE
The Camden crowd just gave a long ovation to Ernie Tyler. Today is his 84th birthday.
HINSKE HOMER
Eric Hinske's two-run homer over the right-field scoreboard in the fourth, has given Tampa a 3-1 lead. It's his second homer of the year vs. the O's and traveled 361 feet. It's his 6th homer of the year. It followed an infield hit by Evan Longoria. Hinske, the 2002 AL rookie of the year, leads the Rays with 12 extra-base hits.
O'S TIE IT UP
O's 1 TB 1.....end of third
Adam Jones led off the third with a single and one out later Luis Hernandez singled. Brian Roberts single scored Jones to tie it at 1. B-Rob is 2-2 tonight and has extended his hitting streak to ten games. Sonnanstine then struck out Mora and Scott as the O's leave two on base.
TAMPA'S ON THE BOARD
TB 1 O's 0.......middle of second
With one out in the second, Matt Albers hit Evan Longoria and walked Eric Hinske. A Dioner Navarro infield single loaded them up. He kept the damage to a minimum with a Gabe Gross sac fly followed by a Jason Bartlett groundout.
WE ARE UNDERWAY
The O's and Rays have begun game two of their series at Camden Yards. First pitch was at 7:08pm and it's 62 degrees. Check back often here tonight for news and updates.
The Orioles continue to play good baseball at Camden Yards. They have won four of their last five at home and are 10-4 at the Yard in 2008.
Garrett Olson, making his first O's start this season, gave up just two runs over 6.2 ip Tuesday to pick up his second major-league win. The O's banged out ten hits with Melvin Mora knocking in two and Aubrey Huff hit a two-run homer. Every O's starter had a hit or RBI except Luke Scott, who went 0-3.
This will be a quick three-game homestand before the club embarks on a three-city, 10-game trip beginning Friday in Los Angeles.
The Rays had a six-game win streak, tied for second longest in team history, come to an end. Tampa was coming off back to back sweeps of Toronto and Boston. In the series vs. the Sox, Tampa pitching gave up just 5 runs and 17 hits in the series. The Rays 14 wins are the most any Tampa team has ever had in April.
ONE HOT, ONE NOT
Brian Roberts double in the 6th last night was his only hit in five times up. But it extended his current hitting streak to nine in a row, the longest by an Oriole this season. During the nine games he is hitting .324 (11-34) with 6 extra-base hits, 8 runs and 5 RBI. He went 9-28 on the road trip and is among the AL leaders in steals and extra-base hits.
On the other hand, Luke Scott went 0-3 with a walk last night. He is in a 3-29 slump and his batting average has dipped to .298, the first time it's been under .300 since the second game of the season.
PRE-GAME NOTES FROM CAMDEN YARDS
TONIGHT'S ORIOLES LINEUP
2B Brian Roberts (.269-3-12)
3B Melvin Mora (.248-3-14)
LF Luke Scott (.298-1-8)
1B Kevin Millar (.222-4-12)
DH Aubrey Huff (.247-5-19)
RF Jay Payton (.267-2-5)
CF Adam Jones (.258-1-8)
C Ramon Hernandez (.208-3-14)
SS Luis Hernandez (.245-0-3)
P Matt Albers
THE LATEST ON LOEWEN
Dave Trembley said his bone scan came thru "clear." Meaning they found nothing wrong with the bone. He said he thinks Loewen is going to see Dr. Andrews next.
"I'm encouraged that the bone scan came back clear," Trembley said. "Our biggest worry was that it would come back, the term Richie used, is it would come hot. This means they didn't find anything and that's good."
Trembley said he was told they put a screw in Loewen's elbow with his surgery, but he said he was told it was more like a rod that holds the bone together. And he held his hand about four inches apart, saying it was not like a normal size screw.
MORE FROM THE MANAGER
After Brian Burres starts tomorrow, Trembley said he will use over the weekend vs. the Angels, Guthrie Friday, Cabrera Saturday and Trachsel Sunday.
"Please don't ask me about the rotation for Oakland. Can I just kind of go one at a time. When I get them, I'll announce them."
On Nick Markakis not being in today's lineup.
"Just give him a day (to rest). Tried to give Millar one the other day, give Nick one today. Maybe jump start Scott in the three hole today. It's a team game. Nick's not starting doesn't mean he won't play."
Trembley became a little agitated, unusual for him, when a reporter asked about the club having a better than predicted April.
"I don't listen to that and I don't care about who predicted what. This team has played as well as could be expected. They've played hard, they've won one-run games, they've come from behind. Let's start giving them a little credit. You may not have expected this, but that's not what we expected. Maybe they'll start winning some of you over, I know they're winning the fans over."
Trembley was asked to clarify a comment he made yesterday about Luis Hernandez being in a 12-day trial to possibly keep his shortstop job.
"What I said was is that these next 12 days, obviously Cintron is not ready to play, Luis will get the majority of time at shortstop these next 12 games to show what he can do. Hopefully to return to what we saw last year. We sent Fahey out which ought to take the pressure off of him having someone on his heels. And go play."
Trembley said he believes Garrett Olson will get another shot to pitch, but has not yet officially committed to him as Loewen's rotation replacement for now.
CHEMISTRY LESSON
In a sport that has a stat for just about everything, how much is good clubhouse chemistry helping this year's O's team ?
"Chad Bradford came in my office last night and said 'its different out in this clubhouse this year'", Trembley said. "I said what do you mean, he said its different. I'm not naive enough to think that's the sole reason for winning, but for the first month the guys have picked each other up and they generally look forward to coming to the park and playing. It's been fun."
Aubrey Huff said chemistry was very important.
"I'm a big believer in that. I've played on a lot of losing teams that don't even want to show up at the park. You want to get out of here as soon as you can. Anytime you have a good clubhouse that translates a lot better on the field."
THE STARTERS
Matt Albers (2-0 1.65) will come out of the pen to make a spot start tonight. The 25-year-old right-hander has given up just 13 hits in 16.1 ip on the season, with three walks and 10 strikeouts. Opponents are batting just .224 against him.
He made one start earlier this season. He got a win April 14 vs. Toronto, pitching five innings. He gave up just one run and five hits, throwing 83 pitches.
Albers was acquired from Houston in December in the Miguel Tejada trade. In the 18 starts he made with Houston in 2007, he was 3-11 5.71.
His only appearance this season vs. Tampa was on opening day. He pitched 2.2 ip not allowing a run or a hit that day.
In 107 career minor-league starts, Albers went 37-28 with an ERA of 3.62. He was the AA Texas League pitcher of the year in 2006 when he went 10-2 2.17 with Corpus Christi.
Another 25-year-old righty will pitch tonight for Tampa. Andy Sonnanstine (3-1 5.28) will be making his 6th start this year and 28th in his career.
Sonnanstine, despite the not great ERA, has already pitched a complete-game shutout this season. He pitched a three-hitter April 19 vs. Chicago. He needed only 106 pitches and faced just 29 batters pitching the 16th CG-SHO in club history.
Sonnanstine was a 13th-round pick in the 2004 draft out of Kent State University.
He has struggled in his brief career vs. the Orioles, with a mark of 1-2 8.04 in three career starts. He did win his last meeting vs. the O's, 17-2, last September 6th, pitching six innings allowing two runs.
MINOR LEAGUE NOTE
Wilmington slowed down Frederick's big lineup in day baseball today, holding the Keys to 2 hits in a 2-1 win. All the big names took an o-fer. Wieters, Rowell, Vinyard and Tripp. Brandon Snyder did have a double.
Starting pitcher Jake Arrieta pitched seven shutout innings allowing just two hits with eight strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 2.20.
O'S BATTERS IN 2008 VS. TAMPA BAY
Luis Hernandez 3-13
Ramon Hernandez 5-18, 1 hr, 5 rbi
Aubrey Huff 5-23, 2 hr, 6 rbi
Adam Jones 3-19, 1 rbi
Nick Markakis 7-20, 1 hr, 4 rbi
Kevin Millar 5-22, 3 rbi
Melvin Mora 4-22, 3 rbi
Jay Payton 0-6
Guillermo Quiroz 1-3
Brian Roberts 9-22, 1 hr, 2 rbi
Luke Scott 4-21, 2 rbi
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