Sunday, 4 a.m.
Sometimes, winning a baseball game is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.
Once piece leads to another, and another, and eventually, you have the entire picture.
It was that way for the Tampa Bay Rays Saturday night. Oh, not so much with their pitching. You've seen the Rays execute a bullpen day before, running a half-dozen pitchers out to keep the hitters off balance.
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This time, however, the Rays took an early lead in their 5-1 victory over the Rangers by piecing together their attack.
In the first, they scored when Jonathan Aranda was hit by a pitch, went to second on Wander Franco's single, to third on a groundout by Harold Ramirez and scored on a shallow fly ball by David Peralta.
The Rays added a run in the third when Jose Siri (he had three hits on the night), stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored on Franco's fly ball.
The Rays later scored in the more traditional ways -- when Taylor Walls homered and when Isaac Paredes doubled in two runs.
The pitchers gave up only six hits and struck out eight.
“Everybody in the bullpen played a big role," said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. "Armstrong started it off. Yarbs was really good. Beeks -- that’s the best he’s looked in a while."
The Rays play Texas again today at 1:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Jeffrey Springs will start for the Rays against Glenn Otto.