No Hitter? Not This Time.

It was a totally different game from the last time the Rays faced Mark Buerhle. The Rays accounted for 13 hits, 9  against Buerhle and Sean Rodriguez hit his first dinger of the season, ending his slump at the plate. I was beginning to worry Rodriguez  overperformed during Spring Tranining and was not ready for the bigs. But after going 3-for-4 with a home run, a double and four RBIs to lead the Rays’ offense last night, Im going to say it was just a slow start for him. “I was fortunate, things just happened to fall,” Rodriguez said. “It’s what you hope for every time you go out there. A lot of guys swung the bats well, though. They say hitting is contagious.” The hitting was definetley contagious last night. The Rays have not hit left handed pitching all year and this was just the confidence they needed to get back on track.

Wade Davis also had another great outing, allowing 2 hits, no runs and striking out 6 in six innings and recording his first win of the year. I love how our starting pitchers 1-5 are very dependable and again, shows how deep the Rays rotation is. The Rays will have the #1 rotation at seasons end. Mike Ekstrom and Andy Sonnanstine were also used to close out the game.

Tonight will be the end of the Rays 10 game road trip and a win tonight would end the road trip going 9-1. Let me repeat. A 9-1 road record. The Rays will return home for a 9 game homestand after tonights game against the Jays, A’s,and Royals.

James Shields (1-0, 4.50)  vs Jake Peavy (0-0, 6.00)  will face off tonight, ending  the road trip.