Athletics 5, Rays 4

The Oakland A's rallied with two runs in the eighth inning for a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night.

Rajai Davis hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth to tie the score at 4-4 and Kevin Kouzmanoff scored on second baseman Ben Zobrist's fielding error on shot by Cliff Pennington for the go-ahead run.

Henry Rodriguez (1-0) got the win with a perfect eighth and Craig Breslow earned his second save with a perfect ninth.

Joaquin Benoit (0-2) took the loss.

Zobrist hit his seventh homer with two out in the seventh off reliever Jerry Blevins to snap a 3-3 tie, but the Athletics came right back.

Tampa Bay starter Jeremy Hellickson allowed three runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts.

Matt Joyce gave the Rays a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a two-run single and John Jaso made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly in the second.

Oakland’s Daric Barton hit a two-run single in the third and Jack Cust tied the score at 3-3 with his ninth homer in the sixth off Hellickson.

Final1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9thRHE
Tampa Bay RaysRays210000100442
Athletics AthleticsAthletics002001020582
WP:
LP:
HR:(ATH): Jack Cust
(TB): Ben Zobrist
Season Series
AthleticsStatsTampa Bay
4-5Vs5-4
.247Batting Average.213
3.7Runs / Game4.3
4Home Runs9
7Errors11