It wasn't pretty but...
This was a weird game but it ended in the most conventional manner: with a Rays win. Greg Bookhart struggled early and a Juan Viatoro error didn't help as the Rays found themselves down 4-0. And not only were they down, they didn't have a baserunner after 4 innings. Things changed when Luis Barela led off the 5th with a triple and Yuji Morioka took advantage of a dropped fly ball to blast a 2-run shot to make it 4-3. And when Jon Morales hit one deep into the Tampa night in the 6th to make it 6-4 Rays, it looked like the die was cast. But the Cubs got to the Rays bullpen with a run off Mel Mejia in the 7th and a solo shot yielded by Abelaldo Gray in the 8th. All this did though was set the stage for another patented Publix Park comeback as Barela doubled with 2 out, scored on Alex Duran's single with the winner and then after Juan Davila reached Morioka went deep for the second time to make it 10-6. Dave Rose will try to keep things in check tomorrow while the offense hopefully goes about its usual business.