Royals 1
Rays 0
Final/10
  for this game

Hosmer lifts Royals over Rays in 10 innings

Aug 22, 2012 - 5:08 AM

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St. Petersburg, FL (Sports Network) - Eric Hosmer's RBI base hit in the 10th inning lifted the Kansas City Royals over the Tampa Bay Rays, 1-0, in the middle test of a three-game set at Tropicana Field.

With two outs Jeff Francoeur ripped an infield single to the hole at short and Ben Zobrist's throw to first skipped passed Rays first baseman Carlos Pena, allowing Francoeur to move to second. Hosmer followed with a bloop-single into shallow center field and Francoeur scored easily.

Kelvin Herrera (1-1) earned the win after stranding a runner in the ninth and Greg Holland picked up his sixth save of the season after tossing a perfect 10th inning.

Joel Peralta (1-5) gave up Hosmer's RBI single to absorb the loss.

"Any time you play a game like that and you lose 1-0, of course that's no fun," Rays manager Joe Maddon admitted. "I think our guys may have been just a little bit fatigued tonight."

Luke Hochevar and David Price went toe-to-toe on the mound, each providing sparkling performances.

Hochevar gave up just one hit and struck out a season-high 10 batters over eight frames for the Royals, winners in four of their last five.

Price allowed three hits and struck out eight without walking a batter over eight innings for the Rays, who had a five-game winning streak snapped.

"Both guys, inning after inning matching each other," Hosmer said. "We knew it was going to come down to one run and one big hit to come win the game."

The Rays blew an early opportunity to get on the board in the third. Luke Scott opened the inning with a double then moved to third on a Ryan Roberts fly out, but Hochevar struck out Jose Molina and Desmond Jennings to end the threat.

The Rays finished 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.

Game Notes

Hochevar is winless in four starts in August ... Prior to the game the Rays activated Scott from the 15-day disabled list and optioned infielder Sean Rodriguez to Triple-A Durham ... Price has pitched at least seven innings 19 times this season. He has also thrown eight scoreless innings twice this month, but didn't earn the win in either start.






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