Rays rough Price as Moore pitches well

by Gary Shelton on June 30, 2016 · 0 comments

in general, Tampa Bay Rays

Rays' Matt Moore threw a no-hitter for five innings to lead Rays./TRAVIS PENDERGRASS

Rays' Matt Moore threw a no-hitter for five innings to lead Rays./TRAVIS PENDERGRASS

Thursday, 5:30 a.m.

This was the place of his humble early days.

And, for that matter, his humbler middle days, too.

The Tampa Bay Rays flattened former teammate David Price, again, in their Wednesday afternoon game. The Rays won 4-0, scoring all of their runs in the first three innings. In five starts against his former team, Price is 1-3 with a 6.52 ERA, hardly the $31-millon-a-year man that he was signed to be.

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Ortiz reacts to the crowd during Wednesday's game./TRAVIS PENDERGRASS

Ortiz reacts to the crowd during Wednesday's game./TRAVIS PENDERGRASS

Price gave up nine hits, and although he struck out 10, the Red Sox lost for the sixth time in his last seven starts.

“Bad. Again,” Price said. “I’m just putting us behind the eight ball early in games. I’m not setting the tone the way that I need to. It tough, but I’ve got to get better.”

The Rays started four players hitting less than .200, but still managed to take the series from the Red Sox. Going into Wednesday, Tampa Bay had lost 12 of 13 games.

Brandon Guyer returned from the disabled list with a double and a home run. Evan Longoria doubled in a run, and Desmond Jennings forced a run home on a groundout.

Price struggled against his former Rays' teammates again./TRAVIS PENDERGRASS

Price struggled against his former Rays' teammates again./TRAVIS PENDERGRASS

“Bad. Again,” Price said. “I’m just putting us behind the eight ball early in games. I’m not setting the tone the way that I need to. It tough, but I’ve got to get better. I’m so much better than this. I’ve just got to get better. It’s crushing me right now, but I’ll get there. I’ve just got to pitch better. That’s what it is right now, it’s not something else. It’s not bad luck. It’s me, so I’ve got to get better.”

Price, acknowledged as the best Rays' pitcher ever, has been spotty this year in his 8-5 start.

“I think everybody in this building has admiration for David Price and what he means to the organization,” said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. “Anytime you get to compete against him, it is special. Especially those guys who were here. Matt Moore was a young pitcher when he was here. They follow him, they listen to him and to go toe-to-toe with that guy has to be special for Matt. And he was outstanding.”

Moore had a no-hitter through five innings. He worked his way out of a one-out, bases-loaded situation in the sixth.

“I think I was able to not have that relapse where you’ve gotta reset. Even with the bases loaded there, just being able to get a couple of those outs and stay on track was probably the biggest reason,” Moore said. “(It helped in the sixth) to slow it down, not feel like I’m rushing or that I have to do something special. You could tell that especially Ortiz was taking, just making sure we were coming in the zone. ... Curt and I were on the same page for most of the night.”

Thursday, Jake Odorizzi (3-3) pitches for the Rays.

Guyer made his return noticeable against the Red Sox./TRAVIS PENDERGRASS

Guyer made his return noticeable against the Red Sox./TRAVIS PENDERGRASS

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