RAYS EXTEND SEASON-OPENING 'W' STREAK TO 6
TB Walks Off On Forsythe's 10th Inning Hit
ST. PETERSBURG, Apr. 5 (AP) - Logan Forsythe's bases loaded single in the bottom
of the 10th inning scored Evan Longoria with the game-winning run as the Tampa
Bay Rays defeated the Texas Rangers 4-3 at Tropicana Field. The Rays
remain perfect on the young season, improving to 6-0. Tampa Bay starter
David Price was tossed from the contest after hitting Rangers first baseman
Prince Fielder with a pitch to open the fourth inning. Fielder charged the
mound and the two exchanged punches as both benches and bullpens emptied.
Fielder was also ejected.
Texas seemed to have the contest in hand, taking a 3-0 lead into the bottom of
the seventh. The Rangers made it 1-0 in the third when Leonys Martin drew
a lead-off walk from Price, stole second and scored one out later on Shin-Soo
Choo's base hit. The lead ballooned to three runs in the sixth.
Facing reliever Heath Bell, Josh Wilson led off with a double to right.
Wilson walked, putting runners on first and second. Josh Lueke replaced
Bell on the mound and induced Elvis Andrus to ground into a fielder's choice,
leaving runners on the corners with one out. Jim Adduci, Fielder's
replacement, lofted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Martin to make it 2-0,
and consecutive singles off the bats of Adrian Beltre and Alex Rios brought
Wilson home.
Texas starter Neil Martinez took a shutout into the bottom of the seventh,
having dodged several Tampa Bay scoring opportunities. The Rays put
runners on base in every inning but the third, but three Rangers double plays
in the first six innings helped keep Tampa Bay off the scoreboard.
Martinez had yet to reach the 80-pitch mark through six and returned to the
mound for the seventh, but yielded consecutive singles to James Loney and
Desmond Jennings, leaving runners on first and second with no outs. Pedro
Figueroa replaced Martinez, but was greeted by pinch hitter Brandon Guyer's
infield hit, loading the bases, and was replaced by Shane Tolleson. Jose
Molina laced a single to center, scoring Loney but Martin gunned Jennings down
at home for the first out of the inning; the Texas lead was now 3-1 and runners
were left on first and second. Yunel Escobar followed with a base hit to
right-center, scoring Guyer with Molina chugging all the way to third.
David DeJesus then tied the game, lifting a sacrifice fly to score Molina.
Wil Myers drew a walk but Ben Zobrist lined out to right to end the
inning.
There was no more scoring until the bottom of the tenth when Alexi Ogando hit
Longoria leading off the inning. Neal Cotts replaced Ogando, but promptly
hit Loney to put runners on first and second. Jennings bunted the runners
into scoring position and Guyer was intentionally walked. At this point,
the Rays had loaded the bases without a ball being hit past the pitchers
mound. Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon called on Forsythe to hit for
Molina. Cotts moved ahead in the count 0-2, but then hung a slider and
Forsythe sliced it into right field for a hit, scoring Longoria to end the game.
4/5/2014, Tex14-Tam14, Tropicana Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E LOB DP 2014 Rangers 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 5 0 4 3 2014 Rays 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 4 13 0 12 2 Rangers AB R H BI AVG Rays AB R H BI AVG Choo lf 4 0 1 1 .158 DeJesus dh 4 0 0 1 .250 Andrus ss 4 1 0 0 .250 Myers rf 4 0 2 0 .333 Fielder 1b 1 0 0 0 .286 Zobrist 2b 4 0 0 0 .130 Adduci pr 1 0 0 1 .000 Longoria 3b 4 1 0 0 .250 Beltre 3b 4 0 2 0 .263 Loney 1b 4 1 3 0 .444 Rios dh 4 0 1 1 .150 Jennings,De cf 4 0 2 0 .500 Choice rf 3 0 0 0 .000 Joyce lf 1 0 1 0 .231 Chirinos c 4 0 0 0 .000 Guyer ph 1 1 1 0 .333 Martin,L cf 3 1 0 0 .313 Molina,J c 4 1 1 1 .222 Wilson,Jo 2b 4 1 1 0 .200 Forsythe ph 1 0 1 1 .333 32 3 5 3 Escobar,Y ss 4 0 2 1 .476 35 4 13 4 Rangers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Martinez,N 6.0 7 1 1 2 1 87 55 1.50 Figueroa,P 0.0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 5.40 Tolleson,Sh BS 1 1.0 2 1 1 1 0 13 7 3.00 Frasor 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 12 8 0.00 Ogando L 0-1 1.0 1 1 1 0 0 16 11 6.00 Cotts 0.1 1 0 0 1 0 11 5 0.00 9.1 13 4 4 4 1 140 87 Rays INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Price,D 3.0 1 1 1 2 3 50 31 0.93 Bell,H 2.0 1 2 2 1 1 19 13 9.00 Lueke 2.0 2 0 0 0 1 25 15 0.00 McGee 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 13 9 0.00 Balfour 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 10 7 2.70 Ramos,C W 3-0 1.0 0 0 0 0 3 14 11 0.00 10.0 5 3 3 3 11 131 86 Tex: Adduci ran for Fielder in the 4th Adduci moved to 1b in the 4th Tam: Guyer batted for Joyce in the 7th Guyer moved to lf in the 8th Forsythe batted for Molina,J in the 10th 2B-Wilson,Jo(1). RBI-Choo(1), Rios(3), Adduci(1), DeJesus(3), Molina,J(2), Escobar,Y(5), Forsythe(4). SB-Martin,L(1). K-Choo 2, Fielder, Rios, Choice 3, Chirinos, Martin,L, Wilson,Jo, Adduci, Jennings,De. BB-Choo, Choice, Martin,L, Myers, Zobrist, Joyce, Guyer. SH-Jennings,De. SF-Adduci, DeJesus. HBP-Fielder, Longoria, Loney, Guyer. HB-Frasor, Ogando, Cotts, Price,D. GWRBI: Forsythe Prince Fielder was ejected from this game David Price was ejected from this game Temperature: 70, Wind: none. Attendance: 21,195 Game Time: 3:20