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.
Tampa Bay | Oakland | |
Jeremy Hellickson | Player | Vin Mazzaro |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
6.1 | IP | 6.1 |
7 | Strikeouts | 5 |
7 | Hits | 3 |
4.26 | ERA | 1.42 |
Tampa Bay | Oakland | |
Matt Joyce | Player | Kevin Kouzmanoff |
1 | Hits | 2 |
2 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
1 | TB | 2 |
.500 | Avg | .500 |