Rays Clubs Cardinals 8-3 to Take Series

Hey. Hey. Jeremy Hellickson finally got some run support. After getting all of one run in his last four starts combined, the Rays scored four runs for him today.

Yadier Molina homered in the second to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. John Jaso doubled in the third and scored on a couple of ground outs. Both pitchers were really cruising at that point, but Kyle Lohse hit a bump in the fifth. With two out, Elliot Johnson bunted for a hit. Johnny Damon, fresh off his four for four night, hit a ball to deep right that got down for a double. Johnson scored from first, but the throw to the plate got away and Lohse wasn’t properly backing up the plate. Damon followed Johnson home to give the Rays a 3-1 lead. 

Hellickson gave it right back when Lance Berkman hit a two run shot in the top of the sixth. Undaunted, the Rays answered with two of their own with three doubles in the bottom of the sixth.

The Rays put runners on second and third in the bottom of the seventh, but couldn’t put any insurance on the board. Ryan Theriot doubled to lead off the eighth and after one out, Joe Maddon brought in Kyle Farnsworth for a five out save.

The Rays made the save chance a lot easier when Johnny Damon hit a bases-clearing triple to give the Rays an 8-3 win. The Rays had back-to-back 10 hit games at home for the first time this year. They also clubbed out seven doubles. Despite all of that, they had trouble getting runs home with outs. Either way, it’s good to see that they are finally scoring runs at home. Just in time for a road trip.

Player  of the Game: Johnny Damon. His second straight POG as he singled, doubled, tripled and drove in four.

W: Jeremy Hellickson (8-7) 3.21 ERA

L: Kyle Lohse (8-5) 2.97 ERA

S: Kyle Farnsworth (17) 2.08 ERA. He walked two today which doubled his walk total for the year to four.