Rays Slam Delgado, Braves Fall 5-2

Randall Delgado had pitched great his previous three starts, but this one was anything but great. Delgado walked five hitters and surrendered a grand slam home run in a 5-2 loss to the Rays.

Delgado was given an early 2-0 lead in the second inning. Juan Francisco hit the third of three straight singles for Atlanta's first run against Rays starter Alex Cobb, scoring Brian McCann. Jason Heyward scored the second run of the inning on Eric Hinske's sacrifice fly.

However, Delgado put the lead in jeopardy in the bottom of the inning. Consecutive walks to Carlos Pena and Luke Scott started the inning and a sacrifice bunt moved them both into scoring position for Will Rhymes. He hit what was sure to be a sacrifice fly, but Jason Heyward fired a throw from right field to nab Pena and preserve the shutout.

Although he escaped trouble in the second, Delgado continued to struggle finding the strike zone in the third and his lack of command ultimately doomed him. Two walks and a single loaded the bases for Matt Joyce and he smashed a grand slam home run to center, the third such home run of his career and suddenly the Rays had a 4-2 lead.

Delgado was gone after four innings. Only 43 of his 84 pitches were strikes.

Cristhian Martinez served up a homer to Sean Rodriguez leading off the sixth, staking Cobb to a 5-2 lead. Cobb retired the final 10 hitters he faced, striking out six in seven innings.

The bats remained quiet the rest of the game, going down in order the final two innings with Fernando Rodney recording the save.

Martin Prado's 10-game hitting streak came to an end. He was 0-for-3.