Tampa Bay 5, Oakland 2
When: 4:10 PM ET, Thursday, May 22, 2014
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature:
Indoors
Umpires:
Home -
Jim Wolf, 1B -
Brian Gorman, 2B -
Pat Hoberg, 3B -
Bill Welke
Attendance:
11257
By SportsDirect Inc.
Rays 5, Athletics 2 (11): Sean Rodriguez belted a three-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning as Tampa Bay defeated visiting Oakland to salvage the finale of a three-game series.
Evan Longoria led off the 11th with a base hit and later scored the tying run on Desmond Jennings’ two-out single before Rodriguez hammered a pitch by Luke Gregerson over the left-field wall for the Rays’ first walk-off win of the season. Yunel Escobar also knocked in a run as Tampa Bay snapped a four-game losing streak.
Yoenis Cespedes had an RBI double in the ninth that tied the game and a sacrifice fly off winner Josh Lueke (1-2) to put the Athletics ahead 2-1 in the top of the 11th. Josh Donaldson and John Jaso notched two hits apiece while Dan Otero (4-1) gave up three runs as Oakland saw its five-game winning streak end.
Rays starter Alex Cobb allowed three hits in 6 2/3 scoreless innings with six strikeouts after returning from an oblique strain that kept him out almost six weeks. Jennings reached on a fielder’s choice, moved to third on Cole Figueroa’s single – his first major-league hit – and scored on Escobar’s base hit to center for a 1-0 lead in the seventh.
Jaso singled to open the ninth off closer Grant Balfour before pinch runner Craig Gentry stole second, Donaldson walked and Cespedes delivered an RBI double to tie it. That took a hard-luck loss away from Oakland starter Sonny Gray, who yielded one run on five hits over eight innings.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Rays loaded the bases in the third, but RF Josh Reddick made a brilliant running catch on Wil Myers’ drive before hitting the wall to save two or three runs. … Tampa Bay optioned OF Kevin Kiermaier to Triple-A Durham to make room on the roster for Cobb. … Donaldson went 2-for-3 with two walks and has reached base safely in all 25 road games this season – 27 in a row dating back to 2013.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| Oakland |
|
Tampa Bay |
|
Sonny Gray
|
Player |
Alex Cobb
|
|
No Decision |
W/L |
No Decision |
|
8.0 |
IP |
6.2 |
|
3 |
Strikeouts |
6 |
|
5 |
Hits |
3 |
|
1.12 |
ERA |
0.00 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Oakland
|
6 |
0 |
9 |
.162 |
14 |
11 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
| Tampa Bay
|
10 |
1 |
13 |
.244 |
16 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
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