The Rays Have An Offensive Outburst and Beat the Braves 10-4

Nothing went right for the Braves on Tuesday night. Kenshin Kawakami and Chris Resop both had rough outings, although Kawakami was plagued by poor defense behind him. The defense committed a total of four errors throughout the contest, including a big first inning throwing error by Yunel Escobar. The Rays scored four in the first inning alone. The offense amassed 13 total hits but they only converted four runs. The left on base total for the night was 14.

Kawakami allowed nine base runners in five innings. He did strike out six and three of the runs he allowed were unearned. It wasn't a great night for Kenshin but he settled down as the game progressed.

David Price didn't pitch particularly well and was rather inefficient over the course of his outing. He only threw five innings and allowed ten total base runners. He was fortunate that the Braves had trouble converting in big situations and that his offense was absolutely destroying everything the Braves' pitchers had to offer.

Evan Longoria had a big night as he went 2-5 with a home run (12), a double, and three RBI. The rest of the Rays lineup had a field day as well. The Rays had six extra base hits to the Braves' two. In addition, Sean Rodriguez, Carl Crawford, Longoria, and Carlos Pena all had two-out RBI whereas Melky Cabrera was the only Brave to come through with two outs. 

On a day filled with talks about Chipper Jones potentially impending retirement, the future Hall-of-Famer had both of the Braves extra base hits. Unfortunately, they both came in two of his lower stress at bats rather than the pressure spots he came up in when the game was semi-close. Chipper struck out with two outs and men on the corners in the bottom of the fourth. At the time, the game was 5-2. Chipper came up again while the game was 7-3 but the Braves had put the first two batters of the inning on base and if they were going to make a come back, this was the time to do it. Chipper hit the ball well but flew out to left. His double earlier in the game lead to the Braves' second run and his home run (4) in the bottom of the eighth was the last run scored for either team.

Chris Resop's re-entry into the big leagues did not go nearly as well as hoped. The right hander who saw a great deal of success at Gwinnett pitched two innings and allowed five hits, three walks, and five runs while striking out two. 

Tomorrow, Tommy Hanson (6-3) faces off against Wade Davis (5-6) at 7:10 EST.