Tampa Bay Rays weekly report

On Wednesday, the Rays began the week with a 6-4 win over the Boston Red Sox. Carlos Pena, Carl Crawford, Pat Burrell and Jason Bartlett all went deep in support of starting pitcher David Price (5-4). Price pitched six innings, giving up six hits, two earned runs, two homers, and striking out five. J.P. Howell notched his 12^th save of the season.

On Friday, the Rays lost a close one 7-6 in 11 innings to the Seattle Mariners. Jason Bartlett's 10^th homer of the season put the Rays on top in the top of the 11^th, but J.P. Howell gave up a two-out-two-run homer in the bottom of the frame. The Rays blew a four-run lead in the seventh after jumping out to a lead early on. Randy Niemann started and J.P. Howell (6-3) took the loss, pitching 1 1/3 innings, giving up one hit, two earned runs, walking one and striking out one.

The Rays came back strong on Saturday with a 10-4 win over the Mariners. A three-run rally in the fifth and a four-run rally in the eighth compensated for an early three-run lead that was wiped away. Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena went deep to start the surge, and Jason Bartlett added a pair of RBIs. James Shields (7-8) started and took the win, pitching 5 1/3 innings, giving up eight hits, four runs (three of them earned), walking three and striking out six.

On Sunday, the Rays hit a homer in the 14^th straight game, a franchise record, but it wasn't enough as Scott Kazmir (6-7) could not get it together. Dioner Navarro's two-run shot was the big hit for the Rays. Scott Kazmir took the loss, pitching 4 1/3 innings, giving up nine hits, seven earned runs, one homer, walking two and striking out three.

The Rays on Monday lost a close one to the Los Angeles Angels 8-7. Jason Bartlett had three hits - a single short of the cycle, two RBIs and two runs scored - as the Rays dropped the series opener. Matt Garza gave up six runs, four of them earned, in 3 1/3 innings and Carlos Pena had his 29^th homer of the season. Reliever Russ Springer (0-2) took the loss, facing just two batters in the seventh and giving up two hits, including a home run.

On Tuesday, the listless Rays managed just three hits in a 6-0 loss to the Angels. David Price (5-5) was in a pitcher's duel with the Angels' Ervin Santana, but then in the bottom of the fifth and sixth, he gave up three runs in each frame. Price pitched six innings, giving up eight hits, six runs (five of them earned), and struck out four.