Doyle and Farmer help the Rockies beat the Rays 2-1
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brenton Doyle and Kyle Farmer each hit an RBI single to help the Colorado Rockies beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 on Saturday.
Doyle drove in Nick Martini with a grounder back up the middle in the third inning. Farmer’s liner to right in the seventh brought home Hunter Goodman for a 2-0 lead.
Tampa Bay finished with 12 hits in its second regular-season game at the spring training home of the New York Yankees. But the Rays went 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base.
Tampa Bay is playing at Steinbrenner Field after Hurricane Milton destroyed the Tropicana Field roof on Oct. 9. It beat Colorado 3-2 on Friday on opening day on Kameron Misner’s game-ending homer in the ninth inning.
Rockies right-hander Antonio Senzatela was tagged for nine hits in 4 1/3 innings on Saturday. He also walked two, but he managed to keep the Rays off the scoreboard.
Tampa Bay scored in the eighth on Taylor Walls’ two-out RBI single off Angel Chivilli. Jonny DeLuca followed with a walk, but Seth Halvorsen escaped the jam by retiring Yandy Díaz on a grounder to first.
Halvorsen also worked a perfect ninth for his third career save. Luis Peralta (1-0) got two outs for the win.
Tampa Bay wasted a sharp performance by Zack Littell (0-1), who struck out seven in six crisp innings.
Key moment
Junior Caminero was cut down at the plate when he tried to score from first on Jonathan Aranda’s double in the first. Aranda was thrown out by Martini when he tried to score on Misner’s single to right in the third.
Key stat
Díaz led off for Tampa Bay and went 0 for 5, but he was hurt by some strong defense for Colorado. Farmer, Ryan McMahon and Michael Toglia robbed Díaz of hits, and Doyle made a diving grab on him leading off the fifth.
Up next
Ryan Feltner, who fanned a career-high 10 in his last appearance against Tampa Bay, takes the mound for Colorado on Sunday. The Rays will start Taj Bradley in the series finale.
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