Today Roberto Hernandez took the hill against Eric Stults and the San Diego Padres looking for a sweep of the 3 game series.  This is the Roberto Hernandez that Andrew Friedman and the Tampa Bay Rays expected when he was inked to a one year deal.  Today we saw a vintage Fausto Carmona like performance going six strong innings while giving up 2 earned runs on five hits while striking out four and walking two on 95 pitches.

The Rays drew first blood in the bottom of the second after Evan Longoria  walked and James Loney singled putting men on 1st & 2nd.  After a Sean Rodriguez pop out Yunel Escobar walked to load the bases for the light hitting Jose Molina.  Molina hit a deep sac fly to right field to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.  Sam Fuld ended the inning after being perhaps robbed by a great defensive play by first baseman Yonder Alonso.  Tampa Bay then threatened in the third but Stults worked out of a jam to hold the Rays at bay.

Hernandez really only got into trouble in the fourth and fifth innings.  In the fourth after a lead-off walk to Chase Headley and a single up the middle to Carlos Quentin, putting men at 1st & 2nd with no one out, Yonder Alonso lined an RBI single past the diving second baseman to tie the game at 1 apiece.  Hernandez was able to limit the damage on a broken bat come backer by Chris Denorfia, invoking a 1-4-3 double play to end the threat.

Hernandez had his second mistake of the game on a 1 out solo home run to second baseman Alexi Amarista, giving the Padres a 2-1 lead.  After working himself into a jam of men on 1st & 2nd with the shift on Escobar made a great play to stop Chase Headley’s hit and end the inning.

The bottom of the sixth is where the Rays struck again with a lead-off double by Evan Longoria.  James Loney then lifted a fly ball to right allowing Longoria to advance to third.  With one on and one out Sean Rodriguez tied the game with a bloop single to center.  Yunel Escobar then battled Padres pitcher Eric Stults, invoking a wild pitch, allowing Rodriguez to take second base.  Heads up baserunning by Rodriguez paid off as Escobar then crushed a ball to right field for an RBI double giving the Rays a 3-2 lead.  Stults then made it out of the inning and kept the Padres in the game.

The Rays bullpen took over from there as Jake McGee, Joel Peralta, and Fernando Rodney did a spectacular job closing out the 7th, 8th, and 9th, pitching as they should and giving the Rays the win.

This was a great come-from-behind win for the Rays and is encouraging coming off a walk-off win the night before.  The key to victory here was superb pitching coupled with timely hitting.  No one performance stood out today aside from the Roberto Hernandez quality start.  This was a complete team win.  James Loney also continued his hot streak going 2-4  with a solo homer in the eighth, his 3rd on the season.

Next up for the Rays is a 3 game series as the rival Boston Red Sox come to Tampa Bay starting Tuesday at 7:10 pm as John Lackey (1-3, 2.82 ERA) faces off against Matt Moore (6-0, 2.14 ERA).

Things did not look overly promising for Cobb in the first inning. He struck out two in the inning, but mixed his strikeouts with solo home runs to Will Venable and Carlos Quentin as the San Diego Padres jumped out to a 2-0 lead. But Cobb just kept racking up the strikeouts, even though he was throwing a lot of pitches. He struck out the side again in the second, and set the stage for a very peculiar third inning.

Cobb started out the inning by striking out Venable, but he reached on a wild pitch for the third strike. As Chase Headley struck out, Venable stole second, then took third on the very next pitch. Unfazed, Cobb struck out Quentin, leaving Venable at third. However, in the midst of facing Yonder alonso, Cobb balked, forcing in Venable to give the Padres a 3-0 lead. In that inning, Cobb had the peculiar line of 4 strikeouts, 0 hits or walks, but 1 earned run.

Tampa finally broke through against starter Edinson Volquez in the bottom of the inning. Back to back walks with one out put runners on first and second, and a Ben Zobrist fly ball moved the runner to third with two out. Evan Longoria followed with a base hit, driving in the first run for the Rays, keeping runners at first and third. Two pitches later, Volquez threw a wild pitch to bring in a run, as the Rays cut the lead to 3-2.

Cobb, meanwhile, kept racking up strikeouts as his pitch count continued to skyrocket. The Padres loaded the bases with two out in the fourth, but Cobb struck out Venable again to end the threat. With his pitch count approaching 100 after four, he came out for the fifth, and struck out Headley and Quentin to open the inning. After getting to 2-2 on Alonso, he walked him to bring his night to an end at 117 pitches. Josh Lueke came in, and got the final out of the inning to end the fifth. Overall, Cobb lasted only 4.2 innings and gave up three earned runs on five hits and two walks, but he struck out an astonishing 13 batters.

The 3-2 score remained until the bottom of the seventh, when former Ray Dale Thayer came into the game in relief of Volquez. However, his appearance ignited the Rays offense. Jose Lobaton reached on an infield single, and Yunel Escobar reached as Thayer threw away the throw on a sacrifice attempt. After another single loaded the bases, Ryan Roberts singled to drive in two, putting the Rays ahead 4-2. Thayer departed, and Anthony Bass was called upon to try to stem the bleeding. After a wild pitch move the runners to second and third, Zobrist singled, driving home both runners as the Rays took a 6-3 lead. The Rays loaded the bases once again with two outs, but Lobaton struck out to end the threat.

The Rays bullpen held on, as Fernando Rodney had another solid performance, picking up the save in the 6-3 win. Jake McGee pitched a perfect seventh to earn his first win on the season. Matthew Joyce was 2-4 with two runs scored and a walk. Longoria ended the night 2-4 with an RBI.

“We talked about a long-term contract briefly at the start of these negotiations,” said Headley. “It was a quick discussion. We weren’t on the same page right from the start. This close to free agency, it has to be a good deal for us. You can’t sacrifice what’s fair.

“If we can do something that makes sense, I’d love to stay a Padre.”

There’s a clear duality in Headley’s comments: he wants to stay with the Padres, but at the same time he wants a deal up to the standard and monetary values that he believes he should receive. He specifically mentions that “This close to free agency, it has to be a good deal for us”- just a couple years from free agency, he’s not going to sign a team-friendly extension to receive financial security. He knows how good of a player he is and what type of money he could make on the open market, and while he hopes the Padres give him a competitive offer and maybe he would choose to stay in San Diego for a slightly less money, his ultimate goal is the find the best contract for him, and if that doesn’t come with the Padres, so be it. The exact same thinking is evident between David Price and the Rays, but with Price being an even better player than Headley, the situation may be even more dire.

After everything that he has given the Rays the last five years, it’s impossible for Rays fans to imagine a Rays team without David Price. On Price’s end, he can’t picture playing anywhere else. But sentimentality isn’t everything for Price as he thinks about his future. Price didn’t sign a team-friendly extension years ago and now free agency is staring right in the face. It’s one thing to leave a couple million dollars a year on the table to stay in the place that he’s played his entire career. It’s another matter entirely when the best contract the Rays could possibly offer Price pales in comparison with the type of deal he could get on the open market. Rays fans can hope that maybe with additional TV money coming in, the Rays will be willing to go above and beyond what they do for any other player not named Evan Longoria and give Price an offer he’ll at least have to seriously consider. They can hope that Price keeps a level head in negotiations and is willing to make sacrifices to stay with the team that has given him everything the possibly could since the moment they signed him. But if the Rays never give him an offer in line with what he believes he should receive, his feelings will mean little because an extension will be impossible for him to justify. And once the Rays see that the negotiations have reached that point, a Rays future without David Price could be happening sooner rather than later.