ST. PETERSBURG — Carl Crawford walked in his first at-bat and quickly broke for second base, where he easily beat the throw. Everyone agreed, including second-base umpire Mike Estabrook, who called Crawford safe.
“There wasn’t any of that iffy stuff going on,” Crawford said, referring to the recent habit of umpires ruling Crawford out when replays showed the Rays left fielder was indeed safe.
Crawford’s stolen base Tuesday during the first inning of the Rays 3-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles was his 60th of the season, which is both a career-high for Crawford and a team record for the Rays.
Crawford had 59 steals in 2004 and 58 in 2006, but down-played the significance of No. 60.
“I never have a goal in mind,” he said. “I try to steal as many as I can to help the team out.”
He did admit the closer he got to 60 the more he wanted it.
“I never did it before,” he said. “I got to 59 one time and didn’t do it, so I wanted to make sure I did it this time.”
Crawford is the fifth player in the past 20 years to have 60 steals and 60 RBIs in the same season, joining Rickey Henderson (61 RBI, 65 steals in 1990), Marquis Grissom (66, 78 in 1992), Kenny Lofton (67, 75 in 1996) and Jose Reyes (81, 64 in 2006).
Crawford owns the six highest single-season stolen base totals in Rays history.
Davis wins No. 2
Wade Davis struggled early, but settled down to retire the final 10 batters he faced Tuesday and earned his second win of his young major league career.
“Bad early, better late,” Davis said.
The right-hander, making only his fifth major league start, allowed at least one hit in his first four innings. But he got Ty Wigginton to bounce out to third base on the first pitch of the fifth inning and the rookie was unhittable after that.
“He does what you need to be successful on this level, and that’s throw the ball hard,” Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. “There was some life coming out of his hand.”
Both of Davis’ victories have come against the Orioles.
Tuesday’s start was the third in which he allowed one earned run or less. It was also the third time in five starts he pitched at least seven innings.
“Wade, once again, was very, very good,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said.
Zorilla
Ben Zobrist, who played second base, was 1-for-4 with an RBI double in the first inning. He is batting .375 with five doubles, a triple, two home runs, 12 RBI, 10 runs, six walks and a .646 slugging percentage in his last 13 games.
He has reached base either with a hit or a walk in 21 of his last 22 games.
His start at second means Zobrist has played first base, right field and second in his past two games.
Aybar getting hot
Willy Aybar was 3-for-4 with three singles and an RBI. He has hit safely in 12 of his last1 3 games. In his last nine games, Aybar is batting .355 with two home runs, three doubles, seven RBI and four runs.
Falling records
The Rays had four extra-base hits Tuesday to set a franchise-record for extra-base hits in a season with 519. The previous record was 514 set in 2007.
The Rays are closing on single-season records for runs scored — they have 776. The team record is 782 set in 2007 — and walks — they have 623, the team record is 626 set in 2008.
They already set the record for most home runs in a season.
The Woes
Baltimore has now lost a major league-high 12 straight games. They have been out-scored by 44 runs during the streak. It is the fifth losing streak of at least 12 games in team history.
The Orioles are 6-28 on the road against the AL East. Overall, they are 20-47 in the division.
NOTEWORTHY
The Rays are 8-3 since their 11-game losing streak ... The start by Wade Davis was the 56th made by a Rays rookie pitcher, the most by a defending AL champ since the 1967 Orioles had 67 games started by rookie pitchers ... Baltimore’s Brian Roberts hit his 56th double of the season, the most by a switch-hitter in major league history ... Baltimore’s Jeremy Guthrie recorded his 15th quality start of the season but lost his major league-high 17th game of the year.
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