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Rays beat Cardinals for sixth straight win

Coverage of today's Cards and Dodgers game can be heard on Newstalk 97.3 WTIM beginning at 5:40pm.

St.  Louis,  MO (SportsNetwork.com) -  James Loney  went 2-for-4 with two runs 
scored,  Yunel Escobar  knocked in a pair  of runs and the Tampa Bay Rays took 
a 7-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a two-game set. 

Evan  Longoria  homered  while  Matt  Joyce, Jose  Molina  and  Jake  Odorizzi 
each collected an RBI for the Rays, who have won a season-best six straight. 

Odorizzi  (6-8) went  5 2/3  innings and  allowed two  runs on  five hits  and 
three walks with eight strikeouts. 

"We  played really  well," Rays  manager Joe  Maddon said.  "Up and  down, the 
lineup played well." 

St.  Louis starter  Adam Wainwright  (12-5) was  tagged for  six runs  -- four 
earned  -- on  six hits  and  a season  high-tying  four walks  through 4  2/3 
innings. 

Matt Carpenter and Matt Holliday each had a solo home run for St. Louis, which 
had won two of their last three coming in. 

"We  had a  lot of  swings out  of the  zone and  up," Cardinals  manager Mike 
Matheny said. "(Odorizzi) did a nice job of staying under control." 

Carpenter  got  St. Louis on  the board  in the first  with a leadoff homer to 
right-center. 

However,  Tampa Bay would  tie the game in the second. Loney doubled and moved 
over  to  third on Molina's single  two batters later. Odorizzi helped his own 
cause  by executing  a perfect safety squeeze that allowed Loney to cross home 
and make it a 1-1 game. 

Kevin  Kiermaier walked to begin a five-run fifth and Wainwright committed his 
first  error of  the season two batters  later on a dribbler from Ben Zobrist. 
Joyce  made sure the error would hurt the Cardinals ace as he knocked a double 
down  the third-base line  for a 2-1 lead. Longoria was hit by a pitch to load 
the bases before Loney pushed another run across with a walk. 

Escobar  proceeded  to flick a  ground-rule double into the right-field corner 
that  plated Joyce  and Longoria, then Molina capped the scoring in the inning 
with an RBI groundout. 

Holliday got a run back in the sixth after he launched his eighth homer of the 
season.  The Cardinals put a pair of runners on later in the frame that forced 
Odorizzi  out of the game, but Jeff Beliveau got pinch-hitter Peter Bourjos to 
strike out looking to escape further trouble. 

Longoria  poked a homer, his 12th of the season, with two outs in the ninth to 
account for the final margin. 

                                   Game Notes 

With  the homer,  Longoria now has a  Rays record of 593 RBI, passing the mark 
previously held by Carl Crawford ... Maddon  was ejected  by home plate umpire 
Mark  Ripperger for  arguing balls  and  strikes in  the third  ... Tampa  Bay 
reliever  Joel  Peralta was  placed  on  the  15-day  disabled list  after  he 
acquired   the   Chikungunya  virus   from  a  mosquito   bite  ...  The  Rays 
went   3-for-8   with  runners   in   scoring   position,  while   St.   Louis 
finished 0-for-5  in those instances and left nine men on base. 

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