Late Comeback Sends Rays over Angels 4-3

It wasn't pretty, but the Rays pulled out a victory Saturday against an Angels squad that has pitched effectively in the first two games of this series.  It seems like every day that an opposing pitcher retires the first 10+ Rays hitters he faces, and Joel Pinero kept that trend alive today by not allowing a base runner until Carl Crawford singled in the third.  The Rays wouldn't score until there were two outs in the fifth when Reid Brignac homered on a lofting tee-shot to right, scoring BJ Upton.   At this point, it seemed the two runs would be more than enough with the way David Price was pitching.

Price pitched like the ace of this staff for the first six innings of the ballgame, and even after stumbling a bit in the seventh inning, rebounded and worked out of the jam.  He threw 106 pitches, about 80% fastballs, and kept the ball on the outer half of the plate to a lineup filled with right-handed hitters.  Price allowed four hits on the night, walking two and striking out five. 

via www.brooksbaseball.net

Torii Hunter led off the seventh inning with a line drive to the right field wall that Matt Joyce timed and made a nice catch to save a double or triple.  Price's luck ran out after that, however, as he walked Mike Napoli and gave up an infield single on a Howie Kendrick dribbler to third.  Whether you were watching the game, listening on the radio, or clicking refresh on the computer, the result of Price's next pitch would take you by surprise.  Blink and you could have missed it.  You see that centermost green dot in the above image?  That's the one pitch Juan Rivera saw in the seventh inning, a four-seam, 95MPH, straight-as-an-arrow fastball that he crushed over the centerfield wall.  And just like that, the score was 3-2. 

Price then allowed a double to Brandon Wood and, after a wild pitch advancing Wood to third with one out, settled in and struck out Mathis and induced a Bourjos groundout to end the inning.  No, Jeff Mathis is not Joe Mauer, probably not even Dioner Navarro, but I was impressed with Price's ability to dial up a strikeout in that situation.  Rays comeback after the jump.

In the ninth, with two outs and an 0-2 count, Dan Johnson sparked the Rays comback, not with a game tying homer, but a swinging bunt infield single that made Howie Kendrick's single in the seventh seem like a rocket off the wall.  After Joyce kept hope alive with a single, Carlos Pena hit a sharp line drive over the shift to score the game tying run.  I'll repeat that: Carlos Pena hit a single over the shift.

In the tenth, Reid Brignac proved he wasn't done for the day and smacked a hustle double to lead off the inning... and was promptly replaced for pinch runner Jason Bartlett.  Jaso followed with a grounder to second, advancing Bartlett to third and setting the stage for Ben Zobrist who... walked.  With the way Zobrist has been hitting lately (more accurately: not hitting), I'm sure no one was upset to see him take the walk and give Crawford the chance to drive home the run.  Unfortunately, CC popped out in the infield and couldn't get the runner in.  Longoria was given the free pass to first in favor of Willy Aybar.  With a full count, Aybar hit a bounding ball over the pitcher's head and up the middle.  Brandon Wood was playing Aybar perfectly and made the catch, but rushed his throw to first and Napoli couldn't pick it.

So after all the drama, the home runs, the strong pitching, the hustle and miscues on the base paths, the game was decided on a walk-off error.  That would mark Brandon Wood's second walk-off in two games, which must make him feel special.  I can't decide if the image of the Rays jumping on Willy Aybar after a walk-off error, amusing or disturbing.  Like most things, probably a bit of both.

The Yankees stomped the O's, so the Rays stay a half game back in the division.  One more against the Halos then off to New York for four.