Rays Nearly Perfect In Bludgeoning of Phillies

PORT CHARLOTTE (620 WDAE) -- The Rays took a combined perfect game into the eighth inning, Corey Dickerson homered, and Steven Souza Jr. scored a pair of runs as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Philadelphia Phillies going away 8-0 Sunday at Charlotte Sports Park.

Tampa Bay got a perfect performance from Justin Marks, who retired the nine batters he faced in order, followed by two perfect frames from Tommy Hunter, a similar inning from Xavier Cedeno, and a perfect seventh inning from Danny Farquhar before the right-hander had the perfect game bid spoiled thanks to a one-out double by Tommy Joseph in the eighth.  The only other baserunners Philadelphia would get were a walk to Cameron Rupp later in the eighth and a base hit by Tyler Goeddel in the ninth off Ryan Garton.

Tampa Bay got on the board in the second inning, as Souza doubled to left with one out and scored two batters later on a base hit by Tim Beckham.

Dickerson made the game 2-0 in the sixth, leading off the inning with his third home run of the spring, and an RBI single for Daniel Robertson an inning later plated Souza for a 3-0 lead.

The floodgates opened in the eighth off former rays reliever Cesar Ramos.  A base hit by Shane Peterson was followed by back-to-back RBI triples from Dayron Varona and Jake Bauers for a 5-0 lead.  Johnny Field's RBI single three batters later made it 6-0.  A wild pitch by Ramos, coupled with a throwing error by Bryan Holaday allowed Casey Gillaspie to make it 7-0, and a sacrifice fly by Curt Casali scored Field extended the lead to 8-0.

The Rays welcome the Pittsburgh Pirates to Charlotte Sports Park Monday, with Blake Snell taking on Jameson Taillon.  First pitch is scheduled for 1:05.

Listen to comments from manager Kevin cash and DH Colby Rasmus below!


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