Longoria Impresses but Rays Fall 7-3

May 28, 2011

V: Cleveland Indians

Attendance: 24,717

S: Chris Perez (14) 2.66 ERA

Summary:

The big announcement of the day came when the lineups were posted. Joe Maddon decided to bat Evan Longoria first in hopes of hoping the star slugger to relax. Longoria immediately responded by hitting a single up the middle in the first. He later homered to center in the third.

James Shields really struggled in the first, however. He allowed more hits in the inning (four) than he did in nine innings last Sunday against the Marlins (three). He was able to limit the damage when he picked Asdrubal Cabrera off of third base. He allowed two runs in the inning and then another run in the second on a Matt LaPorta homer.

Shields lasted through the seventh and handed the ball off to J.P. Howell to start the eighth. Howell allowed four runs with the help of a Ben Zobrist error.

That was really the key inning as the Rays made a comeback bid in the ninth. They loaded the bases with two out in the ninth. Johnny Damon then hit a grounder that LaPorta fielded, but the pitcher, Chris Perez never got to first base, allowing a run to score. However, Longoria apparently forgot that there was a runner ahead of him and tried to go from second to third. Sean Rodriguez was already there and was forced to get in a rundown to save Longoria. Rodriguez was tagged out to end the game–a disappointing finish to say the least, with Zobrist coming up representing the tying run. Watch the play here.

Player of the Game: Carlos Carrasco who limited the Rays to two runs over six innings.