Rays battle back to stun A’s By Daniel Dullum July 28, 2011     The Tampa Bay Rays rallied from five runs down, sparked by a seven-run seventh inning, and outlasted Oakland 10-8 Thursday at the Coliseum. Desmond Jennings had a big day for the Rays, hitting his first major league home run in the sixth and adding a two-run double in Tampa Bay’s big seventh-inning rally against three A’s relievers. Evan Longoria capped the Rays’ rally with his 14th home run of the season, and B.J. Upton, who has been mentioned in recent trade rumors, homered in the eighth to complete Tampa Bay’s scoring. Wade Davis (8-7) withstood a rocky start and stuck around long enough to get the win. After giving up five runs on six hits in the first inning, Davis settled down and didn’t allow another Athletics baserunner. He finished with six strikeouts and didn’t issue a walk for the second straight start. Kyle Farnsworth earned his 20th save in 24 opportunities for Tampa Bay. The A’s seventh-inning bullpen implosion negated a strong start by Rich Harden, who left after six innings with seven strikeouts and a 5-2 lead. In the seventh, Oakland relievers Craig Breslow, Brad Ziegler and Brian Fuentes combined to give up seven runs on five walks and three hits. Ziegler (3-2) issued a bases-loaded walk and didn’t’ retire a batter. Oakland hit for the cycle with its first four batters in the first inning. Cliff Pennington and Hideki Matsui singled, Josh Willingham hit an RBI double, David DeJesus followed with a two-run triple, and Conor Jackson added a two-run homer. Kurt Suzuki homered in the seventh for the A’s. The Minnesota Twins visit the Coliseum for a three-game weekend series with the A’s, beginning Friday night.

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