First Inning
Jeff Niemann worked around a single and a walk to retire the A’s. Carlos Pena made a lunging stop down the line at first for the third out. BJ Upton leads off with a double, and then moves to third as a pickoff throw goes into centerfield. Carl Crawford drives in Upton with a groundout to second. 1-0 Rays
Second Inning
Niemann gets the A’s 1-2-3. Ben Zobrist leads off with a single to right-center. Zorilla is stranded as the inning ends. 1-0 Rays
Third Inning
Another 1-2-3 for Niemann, as he has settled in nicely tonight. Crawford singles to right with two outs, but is stranded at first. 1-0 Rays
Fourth Inning
Scott Hairston leads off with a single to left. Niemann gets out of the inning. Pena leads off the inning with his 24th homer of the season. Pat Burrell hits a ground-rule double to right-center with one out. 2-0 Rays
Fifth Inning
Niemann got another 1-2-3 inning. He has pitched very well tonight. Dioner Navarro leads off with a single to left. That raised his average to .225 on the season, just behind the .227 of Burrell. Upton singles up the middle, giving the Rays two runners on for the first time tonight. Longoria advances the runners on a dribbler to the pitcher. He appeared safe on replays. Pena gets walked intentionally for Zorilla, who has a couple grand slams already this season. Zorilla walks, forcing in a run. Burrell pops to second to end the inning.
3-0 Rays
Sixth Inning
Orlando Cabrera leads off with a single to left. The A’s get two runners on, but Niemann worked out of the jam. Navarro gets hit by a pitch, and then moves to third on a double to the leftfield corner by Upton. A wild pitch that bounced into the crowd scores Navarro. Crawford walks, putting runners on the corners with two outs. Upton gets caught stealing (1-4-2) after Crawford was caught in a rundown. 4-0 Rays
Seventh Inning
Niemann gets an inning-ending double play to get him through seven. Evan Longoria leads off with his 17th homer, his first since June 17 (18 games). Zobrist walks for the second time tonight. Burrell doubles down the line in left, his second double of the game. 6-0 Rays
Eighth Inning
Big Jeff still out there in the eighth. He retires the side in order. Does Joe let him complete the game, especially with the All-Star Break upcoming? The Rays go weakly to end the eighth. 6-0 Rays
Ninth Inning
Niemann back on the hill to close out the game. One pitch, one out. Two outs. Kurt Suzuki singles up the middle with two outs. Jason Giambi is now up. Giambi walks, but Maddon is sticking with Niemann, who already has a complete game shutout this season (June 3 vs. Kansas City). Ryan Sweeney reaches on a fielder’s choice (apparently). Leave him in, Joe! Bases loaded now for Mark Ellis. A force-out ends the game.
6-0 Rays
W: Niemann (8-4)
L: Mazzaro (2-5)
S: NONE
Attendance: 20, 358
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