St. Petersburg, FL (SportsNetwork.com) – Alex Colome and four Rays relievers
combined on a four-hit shutout as Tampa Bay eked out a 2-0 win over the
Baltimore Orioles in the opener of an unusual series.
The Orioles were scheduled to host their AL East counterparts at Camden Yards
this weekend, but the unrest in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray
forced the three-game set to St. Petersburg.
“It would be a convenient excuse (to explain the loss on the changing of
venues), but once the game starts…it’s just a baseball game,” O’s manager
Buck Showalter said.
The Rays, batting first and wearing their away uniforms, managed just four
hits but received RBIs from Evan Longoria and James Loney to win their sixth
straight game at Tropicana Field.
Colome (1-0), in his first start of the season, retired the final nine batters
he faced and only allowed three singles in his five-inning start.
Chris Tillman (2-3) was handed the loss despite tossing seven solid innings.
Tillman, working on seven days of rest, set down the first 11 hitters he faced
before issuing a two-out walk to Asdrubal Cabrera in the fourth.
Longoria followed with a line drive over the glove of a leaping Manny Machado,
and Cabrera scored easily as the ball rolled to the left-field wall. Longoria
legged out a double and came around when Loney dropped a humpback liner in
front of Alejandro De Aza in left.
Colome was on a limited pitch count and was pulled after tossing 42 of his 60
pitches for strikes. He missed a large part of the spring training due to visa
issues and was hit with a bad bout of pneumonia before making his way back to
the mound.
The Orioles, who had won three straight coming in, managed just one baserunner
against the combination of Brandon Gomes, Steve Geltz and Kevin Jepsen.
Brad Boxberger finished off the shutout by striking out the side in the ninth
for his sixth save of the year.
“It’s great playing behind those guys,” Loney said of the Rays’ staff. “They
put us in a good position.”
Game Notes
Tillman struck out seven and fell to 13-4 when pitching on six or more days of
rest … Longoria needs two hits to reach 1,000 for his career … Colome is
the 11th rookie to play for the Rays this year … Another Rays rookie, Steven
Souza, struck out in all four of his plate appearances … The Orioles won two
of three at Tropicana Field to open their season.
