Rays 7, Cardinals 2

[July 23, 2014]  Rays 7, Cardinals 2: Matt Joyce and James Loney each recorded a pair of hits and an RBI as visiting Tampa Bay defeated St. Louis for its sixth consecutive victory in the opener of a two-game series.

Yunel Escobar delivered a key two-run double to help the Rays score five times in the fifth inning off All-Star Adam Wainwright to take control. Jake Odorizzi (6-8), who grew up just outside St. Louis, allowed two runs on five hits and struck out eight over 5 2/3 innings along with registering his first career RBI.

Evan Longoria added a ninth-inning homer to become Tampa Bay's all-time RBI leader while Matt Carpenter and Matt Holliday both hit solo blasts for the Cardinals, who dropped to 5-8 in interleague play. Wainwright (12-5) yielded six runs (four earned) on six hits and a season high-matching four walks in 4 2/3 innings to increase his ERA to 2.02.
 

Wainwright issued a walk and committed an error in the fifth before Joyce slapped an RBI single down the left-field line for a 2-1 lead. Loney pushed across another run with a bases-loaded walk, Escobar followed with his ground-rule double into the right-field corner to plate two more and Jose Molina’s groundout made it 6-1.

Carpenter snapped a 0-for-13 slump with his fifth homer to lead off the first inning. Loney, who is 14-for-28 in his career versus Wainwright, doubled to left-center to start the second and moved to third on a single by Molina before zipping home on Odorizzi’s squeeze bunt in his first major-league at-bat.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Longoria has recorded 593 career RBIs, moving past Carl Crawford (592) for the franchise lead. ... Tampa Bay RHP Joel Peralta was placed on the 15-day disabled list due to illness and the Rays recalled LHP Jeff Beliveau, who came on to pitch 1 1/3 scoreless innings Tuesday. … Rays manager Joe Maddon was ejected by home-plate umpire Mark Ripperger for arguing balls and strikes in the top of the third inning. It was the 36th career ejection for Maddon, extending his club record. … Holliday has collected three homers and 10 RBIs in his last 10 games.

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