Long Road Trip Ends on a Sour Note

June 13, 2011

A: Detroit Tigers

Attendance: 30,938

W: David Purcey (1-0) 2.57 ERA

Summary:

Last night, the Rays made up a rainout from a few weeks ago to extend an already long and arduous road trip. Tigers’ General Manager Dave Dombrowski elected to have the game played at night instead of under the sunshine which would have allowed the Rays to get back to Tampa at a reasonable hour. Instead, the Rays and Tigers played a 10 inning game that took three hours, 37 minutes to play and which ended close to 11PM local time.

Alex Cobb started and like his last outing in LA, he struggled in the first few innings, but managed to keep the Tigers off the board. Detroit loaded the bases with one out for Victor Martinez who flied out to medium right. Speedster Austin Jackson tried to score but B.J. Upton gunned him down for the third out. Cobb kept the game scoreless until the fifth when Martinez did come through with an RBI single that scored Brennan Boesch.

In the seventh, the Rays loaded the bases with one out for Casey Kotchman. LiK. Martinez, Kotchman lifted a medium fly ball. Justin Ruggiano attempted to score on the play, but was called out by home plate umpire John Tumpane. Actually he was safe and when Joe Maddon saw the call, he sprinted towards home and argued vehemently with Tumpane. Maddon was quickly ejected but he continued to argue, screaming “You’re wrong!” (language cleaned up). Incidentally, David Price also got ejected from the game

The Rays reloaded the bases in the eighth and this time Ruggiano lifted a fly ball deep enough to score the tying run. The Rays shouldn’t blame the umpiring crew though for only scoring one run. In what has become a disturbing trend, Rays baserunners continue to get thrown out trying to steal. Another three were thrown out on the bases last night which killed potential rallies. Sam Fuld, these days relegated to pinch-running duty, was called on to steal second in the ninth but was tagged out after his hard slide took him off the base.

The Tigers won the game in the tenth inning against Kyle Farnsworth. He allowed a single to Victor Martinez and with one out Ramon Santiago hit a drive to the game in right center. B.J. cut the ball off nicely, but his desperation throw was too late even to get the slow-footed Martinez.

The Rays ended the road trip on a sour note, but still have to be pleased about a 6-5 road trip that started by losing three of four from the Mariners. Upcoming is perhaps the most important series of the year: a three game set verses Boston. Rays’ fans get to welcome back Carl Crawford

Player of the Game: Phil Coke. He shut out the Rays over 6.1 innings.