Vero Beach Drills Brevard County 12-4, Garza Feels Good

In game one of the three game home series against the Brevard County Manatees the Rays offense came alive scoring double digit runs for the second consecutive game. The Rays jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Ryan Royster singled, Matthew Fields doubled, and Quinn Stewart homered to center field. This made the score 3-0. Then, Jairo De La Rosa doubled, John Matulia walked and then Dioner Navarro hit an 0-1 pitch from Brevard lefty Rafael Lluberes over the fence in left field for a home run that give Vero Beach a 6-0 lead. The Rays would score six more runs over the next three innings hilighted by Matthew Fields going yard and Quinn Stewart belting his second homerun of the game. On the mound Matt Garza gave up eight hits and four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. He fanned four and walked three while throwing 39 of his 70 pitches for strikes. "I think the bad thing was when I had only thrown 20 pitches after the second inning, they told me if I didn't get to 60 [pitches] after four [innings], I'd have to finish up in the [bullpen]," the right-hander said. "That kind of deflated the adrenaline. In the second inning, I started working on breaking stuff and offspeed pitches and locating other things." He ran into trouble in the third after getting two outs and walking a batter. Vero Beach center fielder John Matulia misplayed a line drive that ended up as a triple, and Garza then allowed run-scoring hits to the next two batters. He left in the fourth after yielding two hits and a pair of walks."I shouldn't have walked as many guys as I did," Garza admitted, "but that's why I came down here to do this, instead of at the big league level." Garza's slider was his most impressive weapon, accounting for all four of his strikeouts. His fastball clocked in around 94-96 mph, and he tossed a handful of slow curves, most of them out of the strike zone high. Garza is eligible to come off the DL on Wednesday, and he may be ready to join the Rays when they host the Red Sox in a three-game series that starts Friday. Morse would earn the victory by pitching 4 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball. With the win the Vero Beach Rays are now 9-8. Game two of the three game series is Monday and the first pitch is scheduled for 7:00 P.M. EST.

Triple-A Durham

Heavy rains in Virginia rained out Sunday's game between Durham and Norfolk. Jae Kuk Ryu and fellow righty Chris Mason will start for the Bulls. Righties Jon Leicester and Radhames Liz will start for Norfolk on Monday in a 6:15 doubleheader. Both teams are 7-10 so far this season.

Double-A Montgomery

In game two of the five game series against the Jacksonville Suns the game was tied at 2-2, until the top of the seventh inning. Davis who had been going strong had a major breakdown allowing three runs and then Morlan could not stop the bleeding and gave up another five runs, which enabled Jacksonville to take a 10-2 lead. The Biscuits would go on to lose the game 10-4. Game three of the five game series will be played on Monday with the first pitch at 8:05 P.M. EST.

Tampa Bay Rays

Edwin Jackson gave up six runs on Sunday and that was more than enough as the Chicago won game three and took the three game series on Sunday afternoon by the score of 6-0. Jim Thome continued to haunt the Rays, driving in three runs including a homrerun. The Rays lost their second straight home series, dropping their 2008 record at Tropicana Field to 4-7. The Rays are off on Monday and will begin a three game series at Disney on Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Sonnanstine Shut-Outs White Sox, Vero Beach Sweeps Mets, Durham Shuts-out Norkolf 2-0

In game two of the three game series against the Chicago White Sox the Rays jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. This all started when Jonny Gomes eluded a tag and stole second base with two outs. Then Hinske, Bartlett, and Akinori Iwamura all hit RBI singles to drive in the three runs. The Rays would strike for one another run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Gomes once again got the offense going when he hit a ball deep to center-field off the wall, which allowed him to get a stand-up triple. Jonny would later score on a sacrifice fly. The Rays would get their last run of the night when Carl Crawford scored on a double by B.J. Upton to make this final score be 5-0. The bigger story of the night was Andy Sonnanstine. Sonnanstine pitched a complete game shut-out for the Rays and managed to limit a great White Sox lineup to just three hits. With the series tied at two games apiece the Rays will go for the series win on Sunday. LHP John Danks will take the mound for the Chicago White Sox, while RHP Edwin Jackson will take the mound for the Tampa Bay Rays. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:40 P.M.

Single-A Vero Beach

Navarro continues hit offense surge in his second rehab start with the Vero Beach Rays

In the second game of the home and home series against the St.Lucie Mets on Saturday the Rays took the bus south looking for a sweep. The Rays got things going in the top of the first inning when John Matulia singled and Dioner Navarro continued hit hot hitting streak in his second rehab start by connecting on an RBI Double. Ryan Royster would latter come up in the inning and stroke a RBI single to right field. The Rays were up 2-0, but the Mets cut the lead to 2-1 after one inning of play. In the top of the third inning J.T. Hall homered to right field to make the lead 3-1. Then, in the top of the fourth inning with already two outs the Rays would strike for five runs. Cesar Suarez belted a three run shot to left field and Matthew Fields hit a two out two RBI double. The Mets would counter with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to make the score 8-5, but the Rays would put away the game for good when Dioner Navarro scored in the top of the eighth inning to make the score 9-5 Rays, and Matthew Fields would put the finishing touches on the win by belting a homerun to centerfield. On the mound Heath Rollins pitched four innings and gave up five runs off of six hits and Baker earned the victory by pitching two scoreless innings. On Sunday the Vero Beach Rays will begin a three game home series against the Brevard County Manatees who currently lead the FSL East by two games over the Rays. RHP Matt Garza will be making a rehab start for the Vero Beach Rays from Tampa and is scheduled to threw about 60 pitches. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:00 P.M. EST.

Double- A Montgomery Biscuits

Jake Mcgee was a late scratch in game on the five game home series against the Jacksonville Suns. Because of this the Biscuits fell to the Suns 11-7 on Saturday evening. The Biscuits bullpen just could not seem to get anybody out. The second game of the series features a dynamite pitching matchup, with Biscuits righty Wade Davis (2-0) against Jacksonville lefty Clayton Kershaw. First pitch is Sunday afternoon at 3:05. P.M. EST.

Triple-A Durham

Ben Hendrickson and three others combined on a four-hitter, as Durham shut out Norfolk 2-0 on Saturday night before 10,125 at Harbor Park. Hendrickson (1-1) went the first five innings, allowing three hits and five walks, while striking out one. Hendrickson got veteran Alex Cintron to line to right after three straight walks loaded the bases in the fifth.Hendrickson also got some help defensively. Hector Gimenez threw out Tike Redman trying to steal second in the first, and Gimenez blocked off the plate as Redman tried to score from second on Scott Moore's single to Jeremy Owens in right.Following Hendrickson, Kevin Lynn threw two scoreless frames, and Nick DeBarr and Dale Thayer one apiece. Thayer earned his third save in as many chances.The Bulls scored singled runs in the second and third innings against lefty Garrett Olson (1-1). Chris Richard scored in the second on the second of two Norfolk errors. In the third, Reid Brignac singled home Fernando Perez from second. The Bulls and Tides (both 7-10) will square off at 1:15 on Sunday.

Kazmir Strong/ Biscuits Beat Smokies 8-5

In game one of the two game home and home series against the St.Lucie Mets Scott Kazmir pitched three innings of solid baseball in his first rehab start of the season with the Vero Beach Rays. In three innings he gave up an unearned run and struck out three batters. Mann would then come on in relief and strike out seven Mets, but gave up four runs off of six hits. St.Lucie scored first to take a 1-0 lead, but Vero tied the game an inning later. The Mets would score again to make the score 2-1, but once again the Rays scored in the next inning to tie the game at 2-2 and then went on to score a run in the sixth and three runs in the seventh inning to take a 6-3 lead. The Mets would make the score 6-5 in the top of the eighth but the Rays would add two runs in the bottom of the inning to make the score 8-5. Frontz was able to get the final five outs of the game to give the Rays a 8-5 victory over the St.Lucie Mets. The Rays improved their FSL record to 7-8 and will face the Mets again in Port St.Lucie on Saturday evening at 6:00 P.M. EST.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits

In the final game of the five game series the Montgomery Biscuits were able to win the series four games to one at the Tennessee Smokies on Friday evening by defeating the Smokies 8-5. Offensively Sergio Pedroza hit a Grand slam in the top of the fifth inning to give the Biscuits a short lived 5-2 lead. The Smokies would tie the game at 5, but the Biscuits would go on to score three runs in the seventh inning to take an 8-5 lead. On the mound Wlodarczyk gave up five runs off of nine hits and walked three smokies. Wade Townsend pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball. The Montgomery Biscuits will finally return home to begin a five game homestand against a South division foe; the Jacksonville Suns. The first pitch for Saturday evening's game is scheduled for 8:15 P.M. EST.