The Rays Tank: Lobaton's Big Night at the Plate

While Luke Scott was on a rehab assignment in Port Charlotte, Jose Lobaton was taking Chris Sale deep in Chicago in the Rays’ 5-2 loss. After Lobaton’s solo homerun, he was greeted with silence from the dugout, not his usual gelato from Luke. However, the next half inning, Loby was rewarded for his first homerun of the season with a popsicle from David Price and it was all the camera could focus on.

Prior to yesterday's game, Jose had been 4-for-27 at the plate. Last night, Lobaton went 2-for-2 with a walk. He also had a great block at the plate which prevented Conner Gillaspie from scoring. In his post game interview, he told reporters, ‘The umpire asked me afterwards if he was out and I just said ‘I don’t know, I couldn’t see the replay!’"

Jose’s solo shot made this the eleventh straight game that the Rays have hit homeruns in. It was the team’s nineteenth homerun over the span of those eleven games.

Ian gave a solid in-depth recap of the game last night that you can read here.

Roberto Hernandez takes the mound for the Rays tomorrow against Jake Peavy of the White Sox from US Cellular Field.

Yunel Escobar’s status should be determined today. He sat out last night after experiencing hamstring tightness during Wednesday’s game.

Around The League:

Gio Gonzales allowed only one hit over eight innings in the Nationals’ 8-1 victory over the Reds. Clay Bucholz was the first starter to reach five wins on the season as he struck out ten batters over 7.2 innings. The Red Sox defeated the Astros by a score of 7-2 and remain in first place of the AL East with a record of 15-7. Derek Jeter spoke publicly yesterday for the first time since learning of the fracture in his ankle. He has no doubts at all that he will be back this season. The Yankees beat the Blue Jays 5-3 last night as Mariano earned his seventh save of the season. Justin Verlander left the Tigers game in the seventh inning with a blister on his thumb. The Tigers and Royals took the game to extra innings where the Royals won 8-3 in the tenth thanks to a grand slam hit by Alex Gordon. James Shields went eight innings for Kansas City allowing three earned runs, three walks and picking up four strikeouts. Josh Rutledge make a pretty spectacular catch yesterday with bonus show hair!

Links:

-A few weeks ago, MLB Network’s Brian Kenny criticized Hawk Harrelson for his comments on sabrmetrics. Yesterday, Hawk appeared on MLB Network to debate his opinion with Brian Kenny and it was quite the interview.

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-The almost perfect, Yu Darvish apparently has no inconsistencies in his release while pitching. This mesmerizing .gif by a Redditer, DShep, shows just how unhittable his pitches are.

-Speaking of great .gifs, this one featuring Victor Martinez giving up on a play at the plate is pretty hilarious.

-Dodgers ace, Clayton Kershaw, is the latest athlete to star in a "This is Sportscenter" commercial.