PRICE EXTENDS 9+ K STREAK TO 8

4-Run 7th Caps Rays Comeback

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., June 25 (AP) - David Price struck out nine, extending his streak of starts with nine or more punch outs to a major league best eight, and his Tampa Rays teammates rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 in an interleague contest at Tropicana Field.  Price, continuing his relentless push for American League Pitcher of the Month honors for June, has now won five consecutive decisions and joins Jake Peavy of Boston and Ubaldo Jimenez of Baltimore atop the AL wins leaderboard with 10 victories.  The last time Price didn't fan at least nine batters was on May 13 against Seattle.  In the ensuing eight starts, Price has struck out 95 batters in 62.1 innings.  The Rays ace is currently not expected to start another game until July, but appears to be the favorite to win Pitcher of the Month in the AL.

The Pirates, behind starter Charlie Morton, took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third when Clint Barmes led off the frame with a double and, one out later, scored when Gregory Polanco cracked his fourth home run of the year.  Pittsburgh did not advance another baserunner past second base for the remainder of the game.

Morton, pitching with a depleted bullpen behind him, was shaky but effective.  He didn't record a single 1-2-3 inning but kept the Rays off the scoreboard for six innings.  Pirates manager Clint Hurdle probably knew that he was playing with fire by sending Morton back to the mound in the bottom of the seventh, but he was hoping to steal three more outs, without a single truly rested reliever at his disposal.  Logan Forsythe led off the frame with a base hit but Morton retired Jose Molina on a fly to right for the first out.  Desmond Jennings followed with a line drive single to center, advancing Forsythe to second and Morton, now clearly working on nothing but fumes, walked Ben Zobrist to load the bases.  Hurdle knew that he had to remove Morton and did so, inserting Tony Watson in the game to face Matt Joyce.  But Tampa Bay skipper Joe Maddon countered with right-handed Sean Rodriguez to face the southpaw Watson.  Watson tried to get ahead with a first-pitch fastball and Rodriguez was all over it, depositing it into the left field seats for a grand slam and a 4-2 Rays lead.

Price got into and out of a jam unscathed in the top of the eighth and Kirby Yates tossed a scoreless ninth for his first save of the year.

The Rays have now won three straight while the Pirates have dropped three in a row.

6/25/2014, Pit14-TB14, Tropicana Field

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP

2014 Pirates           0  0  2  0  0  0  0  0  0     2  8  1     5  1

2014 Rays              0  0  0  0  0  0  4  0  x     4  8  0     9  1

Pirates              AB  R  H BI   AVG    Rays                 AB  R  H BI   AVG

Polanco,G         rf  4  1  1  2  .323    Jennings,De       cf  3  1  1  0  .261

Harrison,J        lf  4  0  1  0  .373    Zobrist           ss  3  1  0  0  .263

McCutchen,A       cf  3  0  0  0  .263    Joyce             dh  3  0  1  0  .203

Sanchez,G         1b  4  0  0  0  .152     Rodriguez,S      ph  1  1  1  4  .183

Martin,R          dh  4  0  1  0  .270    Longoria          3b  4  0  2  0  .218

Mercer            ss  3  0  0  0  .228    Loney             1b  3  0  1  0  .320

 Alvarez,P        ph  1  0  1  0  .203    Guyer             lf  3  0  1  0  .256

Walker,N          2b  4  0  0  0  .228    Kiermaier         rf  4  0  0  0  .270

Barmes            3b  3  1  2  0  .197    Forsythe          2b  4  1  1  0  .242

Stewart,C         c   3  0  2  0  .333    Molina,J          c   3  0  0  0  .159

                     33  2  8  2                               31  4  8  4

Pirates                          INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Morton           L 9-3           6.1  5  3  3  4  7 118  69  3.20

Watson           BS 2            0.2  3  1  1  0  0   7   6  1.46

Wilson,Ju                        1.0  0  0  0  0  2  13  10  1.53

                                 8.0  8  4  4  4  9 138  85

Rays                             INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Price,D          W 10-4          8.0  7  2  2  0  9 105  72  2.72

Yates            S 1             1.0  1  0  0  0  0  11   7  5.79

                                 9.0  8  2  2  0  9 116  79

Pit: Alvarez,P batted for Mercer in the 9th

TB : Rodriguez,S batted for Joyce in the 7th

E-Barmes. 2B-Barmes(4), Stewart,C(4). HR-Polanco,G(4), Rodriguez,S(7).

RBI-Polanco,G 2(9), Rodriguez,S 4(19). CS-Barmes, Jennings,De. K-Harrison,J,

McCutchen,A 2, Sanchez,G 2, Martin,R, Mercer 2, Walker,N, Jennings,De,

Zobrist, Longoria 2, Loney, Guyer 2, Forsythe 2. BB-Jennings,De, Zobrist,

Guyer, Molina,J. HBP-McCutchen,A, Jennings,De, Loney. HB-Morton 2, Price,D.

GWRBI: Rodriguez,S

Temperature: 70, Wind: none.

Attendance: 18,433

Game Time: 2:37