A disappointing series in which would have taken two of three if not for a bullpen meltdown in the finale.
Things started off well enough with a 5-1 win over Oakland in the opener thanks to another outstanding effort from
Ruben Cerrillo, who went to 3-0, 0.42 since coming over this winter after a 7 4 1 1 0 6 outing.
Walt Kelly went the final two innings for his second save. Cerillo's primary support came from
Tony Fisher, who was 3-3 with 2 doubles, a homer (#4) and 3 RBI.
Danny Perez also went yard with his 3rd.
The second game was a disaster as the A's routed the Rays 8-1. The bad omens started early when
Leo Gutierrez had to leave the game after one batter with a tired arm, and the bullpen was not up to the task of pitching nearly the entire game.
Moises Baca (1-1) came on first, and went 3 6 3 2 1 3 in taking the loss while
Sebastian Burns and
Chad Montgomery combined to allow five more runs.
Frank Duron's solo homer (#3) leading off the 9th enabled Tampa Bay to avoid a shutout.
As alluded to above, the finale was a tough loss to swallow. Things were going swimmingly as the Rays took a 4-1 lead in the 7th on
Justin Blackwell's 2-run double and a decent start from
Mike Blake (5 6 1 1 1 2). But things started going wrong in the bottom of the frame when
Isaiah Washington gave up a run to make it 4-2,
Walt Kelly allowed a solo homer in the 8th to let Oakland within 4-3, and
Eric Lewis gave up a game-tying homer in the 9th. Lewis then stayed on for the 10th and promptly gave up a second homer to let the A's walk it off. The veteran closer is off to a poor start at 0-2, 11.81 with 7 runs (on 4 homers!) allowed in 5 1/3 innings and has blown his last two save chances.
Team record: 9-5. We've fallen 1 1/2 behind 10-3 first-place Baltimore. Next up: The endless road trip continues with 3 in Texas after an off-day.
To add injury to insult for one of our guys:
