The Tampa Bay Rays barely got a “W” over the Baltimore Orioles yesterday at Tropicana Field with the Rays winning 5 to 3. It was quite a game that followers with Rays tickets will be talking about for days.
Rays pitcher James Shields (4.14 ERA) got the win, while David Hernandez (5.42 ERA) took the loss for the Orioles. James Shields went 8 solid innings for the Rays, allowed 6 hits, one home run and 3 earned runs with no walks and 8 strikeouts. Also pitching for the Rays was Brian Shouse (4.67). The Orioles’s starter David Hernandez went 4.1 innings, allowed 7 hits, 2 home runs and 5 earned runs with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. Brian Bass (4.90), and Jim Johnson (4.10) also pitched for the Orioles. With the win, Shields’s record goes to 11-12, while Hernandez falls to 4-10. Russ Springer earned the save for the Rays, bringing his saves up to 1.
In addition to the 5 runs, the Rays managed 9 hits and committed no errors. It wasn’t a huge day for anyone at the plate for the Rays, as nobody managed more than 2 hits. Shawn Riggans had a tough day at the plate, leaving 5 runners on base. The Orioles didn’t have anyone with a big night with not one batter getting more than 2 hits. The Orioles managed 3 runs, 7 hits and no errors.
Umpiring duties were performed by Chad Fairchild, Mike Estabrook, Jerry Crawford and Phil Cuzzi. There were 10,554 Rays ticket holders in attendance at Tropicana Field.
The win puts the Rays at a record of 82-76, (19.5 games behind the division leader), while the loss brings the Orioles to 60-98, (41.5 games behind first place in the division). The Orioles again take on the Rays tomorrow. There are still plenty of tickets available so take a look.