Thu, 10/01/2009 - 09:52 by shalini.bahadur
St. Petersburg, Fla., Sept. 30: Ben Zobrist hit a three-run homer Wednesday that helped the Tampa Bay Rays to a 5-3 win over Baltimore, the Orioles' 13th straight loss and 98th of the season.
Tampa Bay clinched the second winning season in its 12-year history. The first winning campaign (97-65) came last year en route to an American League pennant.
Zobrist hit his 26th homer of the season to give Tampa Bay a 4-0 lead in the third. Carl Crawford added a solo shot in the fifth.
James Shields (11-12) took a shutout into the eighth inning, but gave up three runs in that frame. His eight strikeouts equaled a season high.
Russ Springer retired two batters in the ninth to collect his first save in eight years.
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Wed, 09/30/2009 - 09:59 by shalini.bahadur
St. Petersburg, Fla., Sept. 29 : Willy Aybar went 3-for-4 with an RBI Tuesday to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 3-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles, who have lost 12 straight.
Ben Zobrist drove in a run and scored once and B.J. Upton had an RBI for the Rays, who have won eight of their last 11 games.
Wade Davis (2-1) gave up one run on seven hits and three walks for the win. Over five starts in September, Davis has allowed just 27 hits and 12 earned runs in 31 1/3 innings, with 31 strikeouts.
Luke Scott drove in the lone run for the Orioles. Baltimore fell a season-worst 37 games under .500 (60-97) and is three defeats away from its first 100-loss since going 54-107 in 1988.
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Mon, 09/28/2009 - 11:43 by shalini.bahadur
Arlington, Texas, Sept. 27: Fernando Perez drove in the game-winning run Sunday with a suicide squeeze bunt, leading the Tampa Bay Rays to a 7-6 win over Texas.
The bunt knocked in Evan Longoria with one out in the top of the ninth. Ben Zobrist led Tampa Bay with two hits, both two-run singles, giving him four RBI.
Carl Crawford had three hits and one RBI, and Jason Bartlett had two hits for the Rays, who have split their last six games.
The winner was reliever Randy Choate (1-0).
Lance Cormier earned his second save.
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Thu, 09/17/2009 - 11:16 by shalini.bahadur
Baltimore, Sept. 17: Matt Wieters hit a two-run homer with no one out in the ninth inning Wednesday to give Baltimore a rainy 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay.
The Rays continued their late-season collapse, during which they have lost 13 of 14 games.
After a rain delay in the eighth inning, Ben Zobrist hit a solo homer in the top of the ninth to lift Tampa Bay to a 2-2 tie.
Russ Springer (0-4) was brought in to try to take the game into extra innings, but failed to retire a batter.
Luke Scott drew a walk to lead off the ninth and Wieters hit the first pitch from Springer over the wall in left-center for his seventh homer of the season.
Jim Johnson (4-5) got the win despite giving up the home run to Zobrist.
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Wed, 09/16/2009 - 12:15 by shalini.bahadur
Baltimore, Sept. 15: Matt Wieters hit a three-run homer and drove in five runs Tuesday to lead Baltimore from a five-run deficit to a 10-5 win over Tampa Bay.
Luke Scott homered and drove in two runs for the Orioles and Brian Roberts and Cesar Izturis each had three hits and an RBI.
Jason Berken (5-11) allowed five runs and seven hits over 6 1/3 innings to win his third straight decision. The right-hander is unbeaten over his last five starts, last losing on Aug. 18 to the Rays.
Pat Burrell had a three-run homer and four RBI for the Rays. Ben Zobrist had three hits and an RBI and scored twice. Jeff Niemann (12-6) lost for the first time in his last nine outings after surrendering 11 hits and six runs over 4 1/3 innings.
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Tue, 08/25/2009 - 11:35 by preet_20
Toronto, Aug. 24: Carlos Pena put Tampa Bay in front with a two-run homer in the fifth Monday and the Rays went on to down Toronto 12-7.
Tampa Bay overcame an early three-run deficit with a 15-hit attack, most of it coming against Toronto ace Roy Halladay (13-7) -- who had his worst outing of the season, giving up eight runs and 12 hits with eight strikeouts over six innings. The 12 hits tied his career record high.
Rod Barajas hit a grand slam homer during Toronto's five-run second inning and the Blue Jays opened a 6-3 advantage through three.
Tampa Bay then broke loose against Halladay to win for the seventh time in nine games.
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Sat, 08/22/2009 - 10:50 by preet_20
St. Petersburg, Fla. Aug. 21: Ben Zobrist and Carlos Pena both homered in a three-run fifth inning Friday and Tampa Bay tightened the wild card race with a 5-3 win over Texas.
Scott Kazmir (8-7) took a shutout into the eighth inning before the Rangers made it close and the Rays went on to capture their sixth victory in seven games.
Tampa Bay already had a 2-0 lead going into the fifth, when Zobrist hit a two-run homer and Carlos Pena produced a solo shot, his 32nd of the season. Both long balls came off starter Dustin Nippert (4-2).
The Rays moved within three games of Boston for the lead in the American League wild card chase. Texas is one game behind the Red Sox.
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Thu, 08/20/2009 - 12:34 by preet_20
St. Petersburgh, Fla. Aug. 19: Another solid outing by Jeff Niemann Wednesday, along with three solo homers, lifted Tampa Bay to its fourth consecutive victory -- 3-1 over Baltimore.
Niemann (11-5) has turned into Tampa Bay's leading pitcher this year, posting 11 wins in his last 14 decisions. He has allowed three runs or fewer in 16 of his last 21 starts.
He gave up a run on seven hits in 7 1/3 innings, striking out five. After surrendering a one-out homer to Brian Roberts in the eighth, Niemann was replaced by Dan Wheeler.
Wheeler retired the only two men he faced and J.P. Howell came on to work a perfect ninth for his 14th save.
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Tue, 08/11/2009 - 13:14 by preet_20
Anaheim, Calif. Aug. 11: Vladimir Guerrero hit two solo home runs Monday, including the 400th of his career, to lead the Los Angeles Angels to an 8-7 win over Tampa Bay.
Kendry Morales homered twice and drove in three runs for the Angels, who won for the third time in five games but have lost consecutive series to Texas and the Chicago White Sox.
Kevin Jepsen (4-3) got the win in relief, throwing two scoreless innings. Brian Fuentes earned his 32nd save.
Jason Bartlett had three hits, drove in two runs and scored twice for the Rays, who also got two RBI from Ben Zobrist and a solo homer from Carlos Pena in their second straight loss -- and their third loss in four games.
LA starter Sean O'Sullivan went 4 2/3 innings, allowing six runs on six hits.
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Sat, 08/01/2009 - 10:41 by preet_20
St. Petersburg, Fla. July 31: A three-run homer by Carlos Pena in the first inning Friday ignited the Tampa Bay Rays to an 8-2 whipping of Kansas City.
The Royals, owners of the worst record in the American League and the second-worst mark in the majors, lost their third straight.
Pena's 26th homer of the season came after Sidney Ponson had given up singles to B.J. Upton and Carl Crawford. Ponson (1-7) allowed seven runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Tampa Bay took a 4-1 lead into the fifth and broke the game open in that inning with three runs.
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Tue, 07/21/2009 - 10:02 by surajdogra
Chicago, July 21: Paul Konerko hit a three-run homer Monday and the Chicago White Sox survived a shaky ninth inning to defeat Tampa Bay 4-3.
Chicago's Gavin Floyd (8-6) struck out seven in as many innings while allowing three hits -- all solo home runs.
Scott Podsednik was 3- for-3 with a walk and two runs scored for the White Sox.
David Price (3-4) gave up four runs on eight hits and is winless in nine career road appearances on the road, including six starts.
Carl Crawford, Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria all homered for the Rays, who suffered just their third loss in their last 10 games.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International.
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Sun, 07/19/2009 - 11:28 by surajdogra
Kansas City, Mo. July 18: Willy Aybar went 4-for-4 and drove in the winning run Saturday to pace the Tampa Bay Rays to a 4-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
B.J. Upton had three hits and an RBI and Ben Zobrist added two hits and a run for the Rays, who have won five of their last seven games.
Tampa Bay starter Scott Kazmir gave up one run on four hits with four walks over six innings before leaving with arm trouble. Chad Bradford (1-0) earned the win for retiring the final batter of the seventh.
David DeJesus and Alberto Callaspo each drove in a run for the Royals, who have lost their last five games.
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