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Sonnanstine gives Rays reason to rejoice in 6-2 win

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Ben Zobrist celebrates his fourth-inning homerun with Willy Aybar and Matt Joyce.

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 3, 2009

Updated: 06/03/2009 06:00 am

ST. PETERSBURG - The most downtrodden member of the starting rotation got back on track, a newcomer hoping to stick around got two huge hits and the Rays won for the third time in four games Tuesday night.

But with the Rays these days, there always seems to be something pulling them back down whenever they try to get up and stay there. So you could say the hamstring injury that knocked Evan Longoria from the game - though it isn't believed to be serious - put a damper on big nights for Andy Sonnanstine and Matt Joyce and the resulting 6-2 victory against the Royals.

"Of course it does," Manager Joe Maddon said. "Listen, we've been dampened several times in the recent past. The thing is, you've just got to hang with it, man. What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? You keep working and you keep everybody's mind fresh."

Longoria's status remains to be determined, so the Rays will do their best to focus on the positives that emerged from Tuesday's game in the meantime.

Though Joyce made the most resounding impact and his status as a hometown favorite inevitably earns him a larger share of the spotlight, the Rays currently have a lot more riding on Sonnanstine's ability to reproduce what he did Tuesday in future outings.

Desperately in need of a solid start after being lit up for a career-high eight runs his previous time out, Sonnanstine responded with his best start in a month. At 6 2/3 innings, it was his second-longest of the season, and he mostly mowed down the Royals aside from solo homers by Jose Guillen and Miguel Olivo.

After the Royals made him work by collecting three hits in the second inning, Sonnanstine retired 15 of the final 17 batters he faced, with back-to-back hits to the bottom two men in the order in the fifth the only hiccup. Quick outs, quick innings - it was the Sonnanstine of old, not the guy who has beat around most of this season.

"Being aggressive and getting ahead and throwing strikes all allow that to happen," he said. "I think I did a real good job of that tonight."

Location has been a problem for Sonnanstine this year, but his command was fine Tuesday. Just as important, he seemed to believe in the pitches he was throwing.

"He looked comfortable to me out there," Maddon said. "He looked very comfortable. He hung a couple breaking balls, which we still need to get away from. Otherwise, I thought he was pretty sharp."

Speaking of breaking balls that met a bad end, Joyce hit one for a double in the sixth, the first of his pair of two-out RBI hits in his second game since being recalled from Durham.

He didn't even know if he'd get to step into the box at that point, as left-hander Horacio Ramirez had just replaced Kyle Davies following two-out walks to Willy Aybar and Ben Zobrist - the last of the six free passes handed out by Kansas City's starter. Joyce's time with the Rays this year has been limited, but the lefty swinger had not yet been allowed to face a lefty pitcher in the uniform of his hometown team.

"I kind of looked to the bench, over at Joe, to see if they were going to make a move, because usually they pull me against lefties, and he gave me the opportunity," Joyce said. "I was happy; I was excited to go up there. I went to Mexico this offseason and faced a lot of lefties, left-handed sliders. It's a lot of hard work paying off."

He didn't crush the offering from Ramirez, but dropped it perfectly into the gap in left-center to bring home two runs and give the Rays a 4-2 lead.

Joyce came up big again in the eighth, giving the Rays some breathing room with a two-out, two-run homer off Roman Colon.

It's only two games, but Joyce certainly looks ready to stick around and his manager indicated he'd like to see the Armwood High product do just that.

"You can't walk away from good performance," Maddon said. "I think he's ready to be an everyday major-league player, so we'll just have to play this through and see where it takes us."

The same could be said about the Rays' current rash of injuries to players they can't adequately replace. So until a friendly MRI result and/or reinforcements arrive, Maddon is advocating circling the wagons.

"Let's just wait and see how Longo turns out the next couple days and get everybody healthy," he said, "and in the meantime let's keep everybody together."

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227.

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