No Home Sweet Home for the Rays

May 15, 2011

Attendance: 21,505

W: Jake Arrieta (5-1) 4.03ERA

Summary:

Baltimore’s hit parade against the bottom of Tampa’s rotation continued as they added 15 more in a 9-3 shellacking of the Rays on Sunday. AFter collecting only four hits in the series opener, a complete game shutout by Jeremy Hellickson, the Orioles turn on the after-burners, out hitting the Rays 26-12 and more importantly outscoring them 15-3 to take another series at the Tropicana Field. Baltimore is now 5-1 on the season at the Trop and the Rays are finding it hard to win at home.

Andy Sonnanstine, filling in for the injured Jeff Niemann, again showed why he doesn’t belong in the Rays rotation. Sonnanstine has only managed to stay in the game for 8 and 1/3 innings in his two starts while allowing six earned runs. His ERA has risen dramatically, from 2.19 to 3.92. It’s obvious that Sonnanstine is not the answer, even as a stop-gap starter. The Rays have too much talent in the minors to allow Sonnanstine more starts, and I expect they’ll address that soon.

J.J. Hardy continues to mash since coming off the DL. Hardy drove a grand slam over the left field wall to ice it for Baltimore. Jake Arrieta won his 3rd straight game, going six innings while striking out seven.

Player of the Game: Matt Joyce was one of the few bright spots, as he continued to collect hits. Joyce went 2-3 with two runs scored and an RBI and is now second in the AL with a .368 batting average.