Tampa Bay Rays weekly report

The Rays started the week on May 20 with a heartbreaking 7-6 loss to the Oakland Athletics. Scott Kazmir (4-4) was pulled after 4 1/3 innings after giving up eight hits, seven earned runs and walking four and striking out three. Down 7-3 after five innings, the Rays battled back but fell short when B.J. Upton was robbed of a game-tying hit.

The lights went out on May 21, and the hitting power was also short early in the game, but the Rays managed to pull out a 6-5 win against the Athletics in the bottom of the ninth inning. A game-tying homer by Ben Zobrist led to a walk-off single by Carl Crawford to win the game. Joe Nelson (1-0) notched his first win of the season.

On May 22, the Rays' hitters took batting practice against the Florida Marlins as the team amassed a 13-0 lead after three innings on the way to a 15-2 win. Gabe Gross, Dioner Navarro and Carlos Pena homered to give Andy Sonnanstine (3-4) his third win of the season. Sonnanstine threw six innings, giving up five hits, one earned run, walking none and striking out two.

On May 23, the Rays' bats woke up in the top of the ninth with a six-run rally that buried the Marlins again, 10-3. Evan Longoria's 48^th RBI of the year began the late rally, and Jeff Neimann gave up one run on four hits in six innings. Grant Balfour (2-0) picked up the win in relief.

On Sunday, the Rays fell short of a sweep of the Marlins in a 5-4 loss in 11 innings. James Shields allowed three runs in the third, but the Rays fought back as Akinori Iwamura scored on a wild pitch to keep the game close. Lance Cormier (0-1) took the loss in relief.

On Monday, the Rays again took batting practice against a team, this time the Cleveland Indians. After jumping out to a 10-0 lead, the Indians took advantage of a bullpen meltdown that allowed two runs in the bottom of the eighth and seven runs in the bottom of the ninth to seal an 11-10 loss for the Rays. Reliever Jason Isringhausen (0-1) gave up a two-run, two-out single with the bases loaded to Victor Martinez to seal the loss.

On Tuesday, the Rays lost to the Indians 5-1, their third straight loss. Matt Garza (4-3) gave up three home runs to the Indians through six innings and took the loss. The Rays' offense struggled to get going, and managed only six hits, including a Carlos Pena home run.