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Sonnanstine collects first career win as Devil Rays beat Marlins

Jun 10, 2007 - 9:27 PM MIAMI (Ticker) -- Andy Sonnanstine tossed seven outstanding innings to record his first career win as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays posted a 9-4 victory over the Florida Marlins on Sunday in the finale of a three-game interleague series.

It was the sixth win in the last eight games for the Devil Rays, who entered with a 5.51 team ERA - the worst mark in the majors.

But Sonnanstine (1-0) was brilliant in his second career start, yielding two runs and and seven hits without walking a batter. The 24-year-old righthander recorded 10 strikeouts, including a franchise-record seven in a row to bridge the second and fourth innings.

"I feel great to get that first (win) out of the way," Sonnanstine said. "Hopefully, there's more to come. I felt like I was spotting most of my pitches with pretty good accuracy. I was staying ahead in the counts. ... The slider was pretty sharp, so I was happy with it."

"He's a pitcher," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon added. "He studies his craft and knows what he's doing. And he's showing to a lot of young pitchers that you don't have to be gun favorable to pitch well in the major leagues. It's all about location and deception."

The 6-3 Sonnanstine also helped his own cause at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI in his first game as a hitter. He ripped a run-scoring single in the fourth inning for his second career hit, giving Tampa Bay a 5-0 lead.

"(Sonnanstine) did a helluva job today," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Changing speeds, changing angles and throwing strikes. We knew that coming in. It's just tough hitting, really uncomfortable to hit. He changes speeds on all his pitches, and that's just tough."

Brendan Harris homered, singled and had a career-high five RBI while Akinori Iwamura had two doubles for Tampa Bay, which staved off a late comeback attempt by the Marlins.

Florida trailed, 6-1, in the seventh inning when Miguel Olivo crushed a solo homer off Sonnanstine. The Marlins halved their deficit in the following frame thanks to Miguel Cabrera, who blasted a two-run homer against righthander Shawn Camp.

It was the team-leading 14th homer for Cabrera, who has been battling a sore hamstring over the past week.

However, Tampa Bay gave itself some breathing room in the ninth courtesy of a three-run outburst. Iwamura lofted an RBI ground-rule double to right-center field with one out, and Harris followed with a two-run single to make it 9-4.

The Devil Rays took the lead for good in the third inning against Marlins rookie starter Rick Vanden Hurk (1-2), who yielded a two-out hit to Sonnanstine before surrendering a long double to Iwamura.

That set the stage for Harris, who belted Vanden Hurk's 3-2 offering over the wall in right field for his sixth homer of the season, giving Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead.

"I came up with a lot of guys on base," Harris said. "I had a pretty good at-bat on the home run. ... I was kind of surprised that it carried out. It's pretty deep here."

"That was a rocket to deep (center)," Maddon said. "Harris has been doing it all year. ... He comes to play every day. This is a guy who was looking for his opportunity to be an everyday major-league player, and now that he's got it."

Vanden Hurk worked five innings in his fifth career start, allowing five runs and six hits with three walks and six strikeouts.

"The first two innings I felt good, throwing aggressive strikes," Vanden Hurk said. "Third inning I maybe started losing a little bit of aggressiveness, and they took advantage of it and scored a couple of runs."

That enabled the Devil Rays to take the series after being swept by the Marlins on their home field in May.

"It felt great to come in and take the series," Harris said. "Especially after them sweeping us at our place."

The Marlins struck out 34 times in the three-game series.

"We've been striking out a lot all year long," Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla said. "That doesn't concern us. We're still leading the league in runs, I think. It's part of the game. We're an aggressive swinging team, a free-swinging team and strikeouts are going to come with a free-swinging team."