Third baseman reaches milestone but Rays drop Game 2.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL – Game two of the double-header between the Rays and A’s kicked off around 6:50 Saturday night. Matt Andriese, newly activated off the 10-day DL, would give up a run early when a Yonder Alonso pop up landed in “no man’s land” for the third single in a row by Oakland.
The Oakland lead didn’t last long. In the bottom of the first, just as they walked off in Game 1, Evan Longoria singled home Peter Bourjos from second to tie things up.
Concerning moment before the first pitch was thrown in the top of the second. Matt Andriese was pulled for rookie Chih-Wei Hu after just an inning of work. It would come back as the same groin injury that put him on the DL a couple weeks ago.
Josh Phegley would give Oakland their lead right back one out into the second with a solo homer to straight away center. After that, Hu would dominate the A’s through four inning of relief.
Jose Alvarado would take over in the sixth and the A’s would waste no time tacking on another run. They’d leave the bases loaded, however, keeping the game close at just 3-2.
History for Longo.
Evan Longoria would finally get his milestone bomb in the bottom of the inning. Leading off and with the Rays trailing 3-1 – the Rays third baseman would crush his 250th home run into the left field seats. He had gone 10 games between home runs.
Here’s to many more, @Evan3Longoria. pic.twitter.com/asfT6ZBZ43
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) June 11, 2017
Oakland would get the run right back in the seventh off Ryne Stanek. The 14th home run of the season off the bat of Ryon Healy would make it a 4-2 ballgame. It wouldn’t end there. Chad Pinder would connect for a two-run home run into right field seats a couple hitters later to push the Oakland lead to 6-2.
The Rays would go down in order in the ninth and drop Game 2 of the double-header.
NOTABLES:
- Longoria joins DET Miguel Cabrera, MIL Ryan Braun, and TOR Jose Bautista as players to reach 250 HR with current teams.
- Total amount of baseball played in today’s double-header: 7 hours, 2 minutes
NEXT UP:
- Rays (33-32) send Chris Archer (4-4, 3.65) to the hill tomorrow to face Athletics Jesse Hahn (2-4, 3.40). The Rays look to take three of four with a win Sunday.
