ST. PETERSBURG — The talk before Tuesday’s game centered on the four Tampa Bay Rays headed to next week’s All-Star Game and the push to get a fifth player on the American League roster. Nothing was said about the slumping designated hitter who’s never been to an All-Star Game and won’t be going this year, either.
And wouldn’t you know it? It was the forgotten slugger in the Tampa Bay lineup who delivered the Rays’ one big hit of the game and sent the 15,244 who made their way to Tropicana Field dancing into the July night.
Pat Burrell delivered a two-out, two-run homer to left field in the bottom of the 11th to give the Rays a 3-1 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays.
It was Burrell’s fourth home run of the season and the Rays’ fourth hit of the night, but it was good enough to snap a four-game losing streak and give Burrell a glimmer of hope that he might be able to turn his season around and make the kind of contribution expected when the Rays signed him in January to a two-year, $16 million contract.
“Usually you see a lot more results quicker than that,” Burrell said. “We got a long way to go, and I haven’t been performing. It’s that simple. So, hopefully, as we go along in the season, you build things. I’m hoping this is one of those times.”
Burrell entered the game 9-for-63 (.143 average) in his 21 games since returning from the disabled list. He was 0-for-3 with a walk before coming to the plate in the 11th with two outs and Ben Zobrist on first.
But then none of the Rays did much at the plate Tuesday. The first four batters in the lineup — B.J. Upton, Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria and Carlos Peña — were a combined 0-for-19 with seven strikeouts. The only one of the four to reach base was Peña, who drew a leadoff walk in the fourth and scored when Gabe Kapler walked with the bases loaded.
The reason for the lack of offense could be found in stats — the Rays were playing one day after an off day, and they were facing a rookie pitcher. Lately, that’s been a bad combination.
The Rays headed into Tuesday’s game 0-2 in their past two games following an off day, scoring one run in each loss. They were also riding a three-game losing streak against rookie starters, and the Jays started 23-year-old lefty Marc Rzepczynski, who was making his major league debut.
Rzepczynski held the Rays to a pair of hits and struck out seven in six innings.
That run in the fourth seemed all the offense the Rays would need, since James Shields, while not as unhittable as Rzepczynski, took a shutout into the eighth. Then Shields allowed two singles to start the inning, and the bullpen allowed a rare run when Chad Bradford gave up an RBI single to Scott Rolen.
But Upton cut down Aaron Hill at the plate for the final out of the inning. Hill tried to score from second on a single to center by Vernon Wells. Upton got him with a strong throw, and Dioner Navarro did the rest by blocking the plate.
The bullpens took over, and the game continued into the 11th. It appeared as if it was headed to the 12th, but Jays righty Brandon League walked Zobrist with two outs. Zobrist, who along with Crawford, Longoria and Jason Bartlett, is headed to the All-Star Game, stole second.
“At that point the at-bat changes,” Burrell said. “With a guy in scoring position you just try and simplify things and hit up the middle of the field and get a base hit. I caught it good.”
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