Tampa Bay Rays Give Up Five Homers, Lose to Baltimore Orioles

The Game: The Tampa Bay Rays lost to the Baltimore Orioles 12-6 on Tuesday afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium. The Rays gave up five runs off four home runs in the first inning and never recovered, leading them to their third consecutive loss of the spring.

The Orioles rocked Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine for four home runs in the first inning. A two run homer by Nick Markakis and solo shots by Luke Scott, Vladimir Guerrero and Adam Jones gave the Orioles a 5-0 lead.

The Orioles added two more long balls in the bottom of the second to increase their lead. A solo shot by Jake Fox and then Markakis's second home run of the game gave them a 6-0 lead.

The Rays struck for their first run in the top of the fourth inning. Sean Rodriguez singled to center. S-Rod would then steal second and later score on an RBI double by Evan Longoria to drop the deficit to five, 6-1.

But the hard charging Orioles offense struck for four more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Matt Wieters knocked in a run with an RBI double and then later scored on an RBI since by Jake Fox. Fox would later scored on an RBI single by Markakis. The final run of the inning would come on a sac fly by Guerrero to increase the lead to 10-1.

The Rays delivered some long balls of their own in the fifth and sixth innings. It started with a solo home run by Kelly Shoppach in the fifth inning. Then Manny Ramirez and BJ Upton hit back to back jacks in the sixth to pull within six runs, 10-4.

The Rays added two more runs in the top of the seventh inning. Brandon Guyer drew a walk to lead off the inning. Desmond Jennings followed with a single to left. Then Justin Ruggiano drove home a run with an RBI double to right, scoring Guyer. Jennings later scored on a sac fly by Chris Carter to pull within four runs of the lead, 10-6.

But the Orioles matched runs in the bottom of the seventh, scoring two runs on a double by Brandon Snyder to increase the lead. The Rays could not generate anymore offense as they fell 12-6.

The Rays pitching staff was a tale of two stories. The good was really good; Cesar Cabral pitched 1 1/3 no-hit innings striking out 2 of the 4 hitters he faced, Chris Archer pitched a no-hit inning with striking out the side and RJ Swindle struck out 2 for the 3 hitters he faced in a no-hit inning. But when it was bad, it was really bad; Andy Sonnanstine was rocked for 6 runs on 6 hits with 5 of them being homers as he was charged with the loss, Ron Delaney allowed 4 runs on 5 hits and Matt Bush gave up 2 runs on 2 hits with 2 walks.

RP Top Prospect Watch:
Chris Archer: pitched a no-hit inning, striking out all three hitters he faced.
Tim Beckham: 0 for 2.
Brandon Guyer: 0 for 2 with a walk and a run scored.
Desmond Jennings: 1 for 2 with a run scored.

A Look Ahead: The Rays (1-3) travel to Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin to face the Toronto Blue Jays (0-4) on Wednesday. David Price (0-0, 0.00) will be making the start for the Rays against Brandon Morrow (0-0, 0.00) for the Blue Jays. Wade Davis, Brian Baker, Chris Bootcheck and Richard De Los Santos are also available to pitch.