Ubaldo Jiminez, who worked himself in and out of trouble in the 1^st, was staked to a 5-0 lead after 3 innings and would mostly cruise through 6 innings, striking out 8 and allowing only 1 walk. After that, the Indians turned it over to their bullpen, which has been strength for them all season, with Tony Sipp and Vinnie Pestano each working a scoreless inning each in relief. Esmil Rogers worked the 9^th, as it became a non-save situation, and B.J. Upton hit a solo homerun off of him, providing the final 7-3 margin. With the win, Jiminez is now 8-7 on the season.

If we’re looking for positives for the Rays in this game, look no further than Luke Scott who, one day after breaking his 0-41 drought at the plate with a homerun, hit another one tonight, along with a bloop single. The loss drops the Rays to 44-41, while the win puts the Indians at 44-40, ½ game ahead of the Rays in the chase for 2 AL Wildcard spots. The Rays trail the Orioles by 2 games and the Angels by 2.5 for the aforementioned wildcards, with those two teams meeting later tonight. The Rays and Indians will meet tomorrow in their final game before the All-Star break, with James Shields (8-5, 4.11 ERA) facing off against Zach Mccalister (3-1, 3.93 ERA).

Notes: The Rays are now a ghastly 5-14 vs. the AL Central, and have only won one series (2 of 3 vs Minnesota on April 20-22^nd at Tropicana Field). This game was not televised locally, or nationally, on any mediums.

The game started off on the right foot as the Rays, without the benefit of a hit, managed to scratch across a run in the bottom of the 1^st. Desmond Jennings lead off with a walk, followed by a stolen base, and would advance to 3rd on a wild pitch. He’d ultimately score on a sacrifice fly by BJ Upton.

Detroit would tie the game in the 4th, but Alex Cobb did a nice job of minimizing the damage. An error by Brooks Conrad, the latest replacement at 3^rd for the Rays, possibly cost the Rays a doubleplay that would have erased Prince Fielder’s lead-off single, if not at least the lead out. Back to back singles by Raburn and Avila would score the tying run, but a good defensive play by Jeff Keppinger, filling in at 1st for Carlos Pena who was given the day off, forced out Delmon Young at the plate, on a ground ball by Don Kelly. Cobb proceeded to strikeout Ramon Santiago and get Austin Jackson to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the frame.

As has been customary for the Rays, however, they’d go down in order, quickly, in the bottom of the frame, forcing Cobb back to the mound to face the teeth of the Tigers lineup. After Detroit loaded the bases via a walk to Berry and a hit by pitch of Fielder, sandwiched around a single by Cabrera, Young and Avila each hit a sacrifice fly, giving the Tigers a 3-1 lead. Having gone hitless against Drew Smyly up until that point, the Rays would mount a rally and tie the game in the bottom of the 5th, as Ben Zobrist lead off with a double and, following hits from two unlikely sources in Matsui and Jose Molina, the game was tied at 3.

Cobb was unable to hold it there, however, as once again, as has been the case most of this series, the Tigers answered right back. Don Kelly, who entered today hitting under .200, lead off with a double, quickly advanced to 3rd on a sacrifice by Santiago and would quickly score on an Austin Jackson single past the drawn in infield to give the Tigers the lead. That would be all for Cobb, and, after being replaced by Jake McGee, who struck out the first batter he faced, a wild pitch followed by intentionally walking Cabrera left Prince Fielder up with a man in scoring position, and he promptly took advantage, driving in Jackson. Cobb had what I’d deem a subpar outing against a tough Detroit lineup, throwing 100 pitches in 5 and 1/3, allowing 8 hits, walking 2 and striking out 3, giving up 5 runs (4 earned).

That unfortunately sums up the Rays-Tigers series pretty well- the right intentions but no execution. (Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE)

Drew Smyly would exit for Detroit and subsequently turn it over to his bullpen, and following a flawless 6th by Brayan Villareal, striking out the side, the Rays had a scoring opportunity against Phil Coke in the 7th. Zobrist would reach on an infield single, and Matsui also singled two batters later (again, sandwiched around a strikeout by Brooks Conrad, who went 0-3 with 2 strikeouts). With Molina at the plate, Coke threw a pitch that handcuffed Alex Avila a bit, but didn’t get that far behind him. Zobrist tried to be opportunistic on the base paths and swipe 3rd, which is often encouraged and in the Rays DNA. Unfortunately, Avila easily gunned him out, Molina flied out to end the inning, and the Rays would not threaten again, as the back end of the Tigers bullpen retired the final 6 in order. Joaquin Benoit worked the 8th and held, Jose Valverde the 9th to pick up the save. Drew Smyly got the win for the Tigers, he’s 3-3, while Alex Cobb dropped his 2nd straight decision and is now 3-5 for the Rays, who will try once again to get back on track starting Monday against the Yankees, whom they now trail by 7.5 games in the AL East.

Notes: The Rays lost the season series, 5-2, to the Tigers, after losing it 6-1 last season. The Rays only 2 wins against the Tigers this season came off of Justin Verlander. lost twice to Rick Porcello and Drew Smyly respectively who, combined, are just 9-8 on the season. Despite their recent struggles, the Rays still trail Baltimore and Los Angeles by 2.5 games for a wildcard spot, with Boston 1 game in front of the Rays. Luke Scott, returning from the DL over the weekend, went 0-10 with a walk and 1 RBI. Matt Joyce is expected to return from the DL sometime this week.

Hopefully, with each passing start, we can continue to say this…but for now, it bears repeating. Matt Moore was sharp yet again, going 7 innings, striking out 8 and allowing just 1 hit, getting his second win against the Marlins, and opposing pitcher Carlos Zambrano, in 6 days. Moore has now earned a win in his last 3 starts, to run his record to 4-5 on the season, after earning just 1 win in his first 10 starts. Moore did not allow a hit, nor a runner in scoring position after the 1st inning. Zambrano ,on the other hand, lasted just 2 innings allowing 4 ER, yielding 6 walks and 3 hits, to a Rays team that would undoubtedly prefer to see him more often, as they’ve touched him up for 11 ER over his last 2 starts in just a shade over 4 innings total. With the loss, Zambrano dropped to 4-5 on the season.

For the Rays, Ben Zobrist and Carlos Pena walked back to back to start the 2nd, followed by an RBI double by Jose Lobaton scoring Zobrist. Pena and Lobaton would follow suit later, scoring on an RBI single from Desmond Jennings and a bases loaded walk by BJ Upton, respectively, before Hideki Matsui grounded out to 2nd to end the frame, with the Rays putting 3 runs on the board.

Chad Gaudin replaced Zambrano in the 4th, and the Rays tacked on another run with a timely two out hit by Will Rhymes. Following a leadoff single by Zobrist and another walk drawn by Pena (he’d ultimately walk 4 times and score 4 times on the night), Zobrist was caught stealing 3rd, and Pena was fortunate not to get caught going to 2nd on what appeared to be a botched double-steal attempt. Rhymes’s 2-out single scored Pena from 2nd, ahead of an errant throw by Logan Morrison. It was the first of two times on the night that Rhymes would come up big with 2 outs, as he later had an RBI single in the 5th,an inning that also saw Zobrist hit the Rays only home run of the night,a solo shot to right.

The Rays finished their scoring barrage in the 7th, as Pena and Lobaton drew back to back 2 out walks, knocking Gaudin from the game, who was replaced by Sandy Rosario. From there, Sean Rodriguez, inserted into the game at 3B earlier for defensive purposes, ripped an RBI single to left scoring Pena.  Following a single by Elliot Johnson which advanced the runners, Desmond Jennings cleared the bases with a double, giving him 4 RBI on the night, and summarily scoring the 11th Rays run on a Matt Joyce single.

Burke Badenhop would come on in relief of Moore in the 8th, and retired the Marlins in order. Brandon Gomes, just recalled from Durham, struck out the side in the 9th following a leadoff walk, preserving the 1 hit, combined 11-0 shutout win for the Rays. The victory snaps a 3 game losing skid after an ugly sweep at the hands of the Mets, giving the Rays a 36-28 mark on the season, 2.5 games back of the Yankees (38-25) and 1 behind the Orioles (37-27), in the AL East. The Marlins loss is their 3rd straight and 9th in their last 10, including 4 losses to the Rays. Miami’s loss drops them back to .500 (32-32) on the season.  Tampa Bay will send James Shields to the mound  on Saturday, opposing Anibal Sanchez, in a rematch of last Sunday’s pitching matchup, a game won by the Rays, 4-2.

Notes: The victory Friday ensures the Rays taking the annual 6 game Citrus Series from the Marlins for the 2nd straight season, and gave them their 8th consecutive win overall in the head to head series. The 11 runs scored by the Rays is a season high at home (previously 8, vs NYY, TOR, and BAL, once each), and the first time scoring double-digits at home since 8/17/2010 (10, vs TEX).