Hydrating Rays @ Cruz Bruised Rangers 8/30-9/1

[Tobywan]

Now pitching Juam Cruz.


Andrus singled on a line drive to left.
Hammer with the shift on, grounds into a 5-6-3 dp.
Young Ks.

[Tobywan]

Now pitching Mike Adams.

BJ Ks looking.
Matty J grounds out to second.
John Jaso ph for Shoppach, grounds to short.

[Tobywan]

Jaso remains in the game at catcher.

Nap walks.

Now pitching JP Howell.

Murph grounds to second, throw to the bag to get Nap, Murph reaches.
Torry Ks........Murph heading to second.throw is high, in with the steal.
Moreland grounds to first, Howell races to cover th ebag, slides in just ahead of Moreland.

On to the 9th. Rangers lead 2-0.

[Tobywan]

Now pitching Neftali Feliz.

Sam Fuld ph for SRod, hits a liner into right for a single.
DJ walks.
JD bloops into shallow right, Kinsler drops the ball! Throw to second to get Jennings, Fuld on to third, Damon reaches.
Longoria grounds into a 4-6-3 double play.

Rangers take the first game, shutting out the Rays 2-0.

[Tobywan]

Tonight’s Match ups

James Shields is 12-10, with a 2.96 ERA, got his 10th CG in Toronto last Friday for the win striking out 12 and limiting the Jays to just one run.

Alexi Ogando is 12-6 with a 3.57 ERA, struggled a bit in his game Thurs. against the Red Sox, giving up a career high 4 homers in the game.

[Tobywan]

Rays recalled OF Brandon "be that" Guyer and activated and recalled Justin Ruggiano. Two more are supposedly coming for the weekend and they will likely wait until next week to add another catcher when Lobaton is ready to come off the DL. They also released P Dirk Hayhurst from the Durham Bulls.



Shields threw 8 scoreless innings tonight, giving up just 4 hits and one walk while striking out 7. The Rays held on to win 4-1. The lone run given up in the 9th by Farnsworth, the Rangers had a major threat going but he struck out Torrealba to preserve the win.

[Tobywan]

Tonight’s Match ups

Jeff Niemann is 9-5, with a 3.46 ERA. Jeff went just 6 1/3 on Sat. against the Jays ending the consecutive starts streak of the Rays rotation at 11. Since coming off the DL at the end of June he is 8-1 with a 2.57 ERA in 12 starts.


CJ Wilson is 13-6 with a 3.29 ERA. He allowed a career high 4 homers in his last outing against the Angels. He is 2-0 lifetime against the Rays with a 2.88 ERA.


Adrian Beltre is expected to be back in the line up tonight.

With the lefty going for the Rangers it is possible that newly recalled OFs Brandon Guyer and Justin Ruggiano could be inserted into the Rays line up.


Tid bits
The Texas bullpen has allowed one run and two hits over 9 2/3 innings in the first two games of this series. The relievers have posted a 0.73 ERA and held opponents to a .077 average with one extra-base hit over its last three games.

Tampa Bay finished August tied for the AL's best record with Detroit at 18-10 and established a club record for the month with a 3.07 ERA.

Johnny Damon went 1-3 Wed. and took the 63rd spot on the hits list with 2,704.

James Shields recorded his 1,000 strike out in last night’s game.