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Rays' Longoria out because of death in family

The Associated Press

Evan Longoria leads the majors with five home runs and the Rays with a .441 batting average.

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By TONY FABRIZIO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 15, 2009

Updated: 04/15/2009 04:38 pm

ST. PETERSBURG - Rays third baseman Evan Longoria was not in the lineup for today's series finale against the Yankees at Tropicana Field and will not play tomorrow night against the Chicago White Sox. He traveled to his home state of California because of a death in the family, manager Joe Maddon said.

Willy Aybar started at third base in the 4:08 p.m. game, and designated hitter Pat Burrell moved up from fifth to third in the batting order. Longoria led the major leagues in home runs with five and the Rays in batting at .441 entering today's games.

He said Longoria had known he would have to leave for a couple of days and "he's just been trying to figure out the right time to go home." The 2008 American League Rookie of the Year is expected back for Friday night's game against the White Sox.

The game – the rubber match in three-game series – is underway after starting 10 minutes late because of a partial power outage.

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