Price spectacular in win over Oakland

Sean Rodriguez was in the Tampa Bay Rays' lineup Friday night because he's been getting hits off Oakland Athletics starter Gio Gonzalez since junior high.

Willy Aybar was in the lineup because of the way he swung the bat in Thursday's win at Seattle.

David Price was on the mound because, well, it was his turn to pitch.

Mix them together and you got some clutch hits, some runs and another strong outing by a Rays starting pitcher, and you know what that means?

Start reaching for the record book.

The Rays beat the A's 4-1 at the Oakland Coliseum to improve their major league-best record to 22-7.

It was their fifth straight win, fourth straight on this nine-game West Coast road trip, sixth straight on the road and 13th out of 14 away from Tropicana Field this season.

"We expected to win every game," Price said when asked about the Rays fast start to the season.

Here is how the Rays place among the best starts in baseball history:

They are tied with the 2001 Mariners for the second-best record after 29 games since the turn of this century. They trailed only the 2003 Yankees, who were 23-6.

They are tied for the fourth-best 29-game start over the past 50 years with 2001 Mariners, 1990 A's, 2005 White Sox, 2002 Red Sox and 1988 A's, trailing only the '84 Tigers (25-4), '81 A's (23-6) and '98 Yankees (23-6).

Their 13-1 road record to start the season is tied with the 1923 New York Giants and the 1976 Phillies for the second-best 14-game start away from home to begin a season. The 1984 Tigers hold the all-time mark with a 17-0 start away from Tiger Stadium to begin the year.

"It's been the typical combination," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

And that combination is pitching, hitting and defense - though the Rays made a pair of errors, one of which led to the A's lone run.

Price threw a season-high 119 pitches and allowed a season-low three hits to improve to 4-1 and lowered his ERA to 1.91.

"I wasn't too impressed with my pitching," Price said. "At some points, yes. At some points, no."

One person who was, besides Maddon, who called Price "the story of the game," was Randy Choate, who replaced Price with two-out in the eighth and the bases loaded.

"He might be the biggest competitor I've ever met in my life," Choate said. "He doesn't want to lose at anything."

Choate, a teammate of Price at Triple A Durham last season, said Price is light-years ahead of where he was a year ago.

"He had a curveball tonight that I've never seen from him before," Choate said.

Choate almost helped preserve the shutout by getting Daric Barton to ground out to third, but Evan Longoria's throw to first was high and pulled Carlos Peña off the base.

"That happens, but I made my pitch," Choate said.

Actually, Choate made his pitch again, getting Ryan Sweeney to bounce to Jason Bartlett for the final out of the inning.

"After he made the error, Evan said, 'My bad,' and I said, 'I'm going to get you another one,' and I almost did," Choate said.

Now, for the offense.

Rodriguez started in place of Ben Zobrist at second because Maddon wanted to give Zobrist a night off, and because Rodriguez has seen the left-handed Gonzalez often - in junior high, in high school in the Miami-area and in the minor leagues.

"We always have some battles," Rodriguez said.

Gonzalez struck Rodriguez out during Rodriguez's first two trips to the plate, but Rodriguez got him in the seventh inning, sending a line drive over the head of A's center fielder Rajai Davis to score Gabe Kapler and Dioner Navarro.

"I got one pitch to hit every at-bat," Rodriguez said. "But he doesn't let you off the hook."

Based on their history, Rodriguez knew what to look for during that third at-bat - a fastball.

"I was looking for it and hit it well," he said. "I was fortunate I didn't miss it."

Call it a hunch, call it good scouting, call it simply wanting to give a starter a day off, but Maddon playing Rodriguez over Zobrist came up big.

"It was probably least of all a hunch," Maddon said. "It's primarily based on information and wanting to keep guys involved."

Maddon wanted to keep Aybar's bat involved in the offense based on the way Aybar swings against lefties. Aybar singled home Longoria in the fourth inning to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.

The Rays tacked on another run in the eighth when Zobrist, batting for Rodriguez, singled and eventually scored on a pinch-hit single by Reid Brignac.

All that was left was for Rafael Soriano to nail down his eighth save in eight opportunities, which he did with a perfect ninth inning.

The only downside to the night was Longoria's hitting streak ended at 12 games.