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Zobrist belts grand slam, Rays down Red Sox

Jul 16, 2011 - 4:47 AM St. Petersburg, FL (Sports Network) - Ben Zobrist hit a grand slam and drove in a total of five runs, as the Tampa Bay Rays held off the Boston Red Sox, 9-6, in the opener of a three-game series.

Casey Kotchman added a two-run homer and scored twice for the Rays, who snapped a brief two-game skid. Sam Fuld and B.J. Upton both knocked in a run.

David Price (9-7) allowed three runs on five hits over six innings to pick up the win. He struck out seven and walked one.

Marco Scutaro hit a two-run homer for the Red Sox, who got solo home runs from Darnell McDonald, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia.

Andrew Miller (3-1), who had won three straight starts, gave up seven runs on five hits over just 2 2/3 innings. He walked five and struck out zero for Boston, which had a six-game winning streak snapped.

"Being more aggressive in the zone early on," Miller said. "I think I'm not doing it on purpose but it seems like I'm just missing off the plate or [not] hitting the corner. I'm never missing over the plate. I think what got me back here was being aggressive in the strike zone. I'm not doing that right now. I've got to do a better job."

The Rays scored early and often. Zobrist and Evan Longoria worked one-out walks in the first inning and Upton followed with an RBI single to center.

McDonald made it 1-1 with a solo homer to left in the top of the second.

Tampa Bay responded with four runs in the home second when Zobrist smacked Miller's offering over the wall in left to make it 5-1.

"It feels good," Zobrist said. "It's usually a big momentum shift in the game."

Ellsbury cut the gap to three with a solo homer to right in the third. The Rays, though, scored twice in the bottom half. Kotchman singled and Kelly Shoppach walked with one out. Two batters later, Fuld hit an RBI single to right. Johnny Damon walked to load the bases and Alfredo Aceves took over for Miller and walked Zobrist to force in a run. Longoria grounded out to end the frame, but not before the home team took a 7-2 edge.

Pedroia led off the sixth with a homer to left-center field to make it a 7-3 contest. But Kotchman hit a two-run homer off the right-field foul pole in the bottom half to make it 9-3.

Boston's fourth home run of the game came in the seventh when Scutaro scored Yamaico Navarro with a blast off Joel Peralta.

Kevin Youkilis hit an RBI single off Juan Cruz in the eighth to make it 9-6.

Kyle Farnsworth tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings to pick up his 18th save of the season.

Game Notes

The Rays have won four of six from the Red Sox this season...Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 13 games...The Rays started a seven-game homestand...Price improved to 5-3 lifetime against Boston...Red Sox slugger David Ortiz is appealing the four-game suspension he received for his part in Boston's bench-clearing brawl with the Baltimore Orioles last Friday. Ortiz was in the lineup and went 0-for-4...Zobrist hit his fifth career grand slam...Boston's Carl Crawford went 1-for-2 with a walk in three plate appearances Friday in the first of two minor league rehab assignments with Triple-A Pawtucket.