August 29, 2008: Cliff Floyd’s 5 RBIs lead Rays to rout, first winning season in franchise history

There was excitement in the Tampa Bay area when the 2008 season began. The team, known as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for their first 10 seasons of existence, was rebranded as the Rays.1 They had developed a core of young players. After finishing with a 66-96 record in 2007, Tampa Bay was expected to improve. Sports Illustrated predicted that the Rays would “crack .500 for the first time behind a vastly improved defense and bullpen, and the best rotation in team history.”2

Tampa Bay exceeded expectations as the season progressed. The Rays, who had never been in first place in the American League East Division after April 16 in any previous season, took over the top spot again on June 29 with a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.3 On August 5 they won their 67th game, one more than in all of 2007. Five days later, their 71st victory, 11-3 against the Seattle Mariners, set a new team record for wins in a season.

Even with two members of their young core – rookie third baseman Evan Longoria and speedy left fielder Carl Crawford – missing significant time with August injuries, Tampa Bay continued to win.4 Heading into a weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles in late August, the Rays were 81-51, 4½ games in front of the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox in the AL East. One more win would guarantee a winning season for the first time in franchise history.

Like Tampa Bay, Baltimore started the season with hopes for improving after 10 straight losing seasons. Dave Trembley had taken over as manager in the middle of the 2007 season5 and the team was attempting to rebuild around young players. But the Orioles were 63-70, having lost eight of 11 when they arrived at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. It was their 10th straight August with a losing record and they had “been reduced to the role of hopeful spoilers.”6

On Friday, August 29, Scott Kazmir took the mound for the Rays in front of 21,439 fans at Tropicana Field. The 24-year-old left-hander had led the AL with 239 strikeouts in 2007. He entered the game with a 9-6 record and a 3.27 ERA in 2008.

In the top of the first, Kazmir walked leadoff batter Brian Roberts. The Orioles’ second baseman stole two bases, but a pair of groundouts stranded him at third.

Jeremy Guthrie started for the Orioles. The 29-year-old right-hander had lost his previous two starts after pitching seven innings and giving up two runs in a 6-3 loss to the Red Sox. He entered the game having thrown 183⅔ innings in 2008, 8⅓ more than his previous season high.7

Tampa Bay’s Akinori Iwamura led off the first with a triple down the right-field line. B.J. Upton hit a groundball to shortstop Juan Castro, who threw home to catch Iwamura in a rundown. Third baseman Melvin Mora tagged out Iwamura as Upton reached second.

Upton stole third and Guthrie walked Carlos Peña. Cliff Floyd doubled to bring Upton home and put the Rays up, 1-0.8

After Kazmir struck out two batters in a one-two-three second, Gabe Gross singled with one out in the bottom of the inning. Shawn Riggans grounded into a force at second, but Guthrie walked the next four Rays, with the walks to Peña and Floyd bringing home two more runs. Willy Aybar’s popout to shortstop ended the frame with the Rays ahead 3-0.

Kazmir walked two batters in the third, but Mora’s groundout ended the frame. Mora suffered a hamstring strain as he tried to beat out the throw and had to leave the game.

Guthrie got through the third but gave up two singles to start the fourth, then walked Peña to load the bases. It was just the third time Guthrie had walked more than four batters in 29 starts.

Floyd doubled down the right-field line, driving in Iwamura and Upton to make the score 5-0. Trembley sent Guthrie to the showers and brought in right-hander Fernando Cabrera. It was Guthrie’s shortest start in two full seasons in the majors.9 The 26-year-old Cabrera entered the game with a 2.70 ERA in August. He got Aybar to ground to first baseman Kevin Millar. Eric Hinske was intentionally walked.

This brought up Ben Zobrist, who had hit six home runs since his call-up from Triple A in mid-May. He hit Cabrera’s first pitch over the right-field fence to clear the bases and give the Rays a 9-0 lead. ”I don’t think I’ve ever done that in college ball, minor leagues or anything that I remember,” said Zobrist of his first major-league grand slam.10

Gross followed with a solo home run to make the score 10-0. Later in the inning, with Iwamura at bat, Orioles’ catcher Ramón Hernández was ejected after arguing a call and was replaced by Guillermo Quiroz.11

Tampa Bay tacked on three more runs in the sixth. Cabrera walked Gross to start the inning. After Riggans reached first on an error by second baseman Roberts, Trembley decided to replace Cabrera with rookie right-hander Randor Bierd. When Trembley reached the mound to take the ball from Cabrera, the pitcher flipped the ball in the air and walked toward the dugout.

Iwamura grounded into a force at second, putting Rays at the corners, and Upton and Peña followed with RBI singles. Floyd’s sacrifice fly to left plated Upton. It was the sixth time the 35-year-old Floyd had five or more RBIs in a game,12 and it put the Rays ahead by 13 runs. Floyd had seven more RBIs in the last month of the season. He finished with 39 RBIs in 2008 and 865 in his 17-year career.13

Kazmir took a one-hitter into the sixth but allowed a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Luis Montañez and a one-out hit to former Ray Aubrey Huff. Juan Salas came in and got the final two outs of the inning. In the seventh, with Salas still on the mound, Jay Payton doubled with one out and moved to third on a wild pitch. Castro doubled to score Payton with the Orioles’ first run.

Baltimore scored two more runs in the eighth. Alex Cintrón singled and scored on Huff’s double. With two outs, Luke Scott singled against Jason Hammel, bringing Huff home and making it 13-3.

Riggans’ solo home run in the bottom of the inning set the score at 14-3. Hammel pitched a one-two-three ninth to give the Rays their 82nd win and guarantee a winning season. The Rays had never finished better than 21 games under .500.

The loss was the Orioles’ eighth in 10 games, and their ninth loss in 12 games against the Rays in 2008. They went on to lose to Tampa Bay in the remaining two games of the series as well as four straight from September 22 to 24. From a 61-63 record on August 17, Baltimore dropped 30 of 37 games the rest of the way. They finished 68-93, fifth in the AL East.

Kazmir became the fifth Rays starter to get at least 10 wins in 2008.14 “We wouldn’t have been thinking about a winning season last year or the year before. What a season,” he said.15

“We’ve been trying to break through a lot of barriers this year, and I think we have,” said Rays manager Joe Maddon. “Our eyes have been on the playoffs all the time.”16

The Rays, after going 21-7 in August, were 5½ games in front of Boston in the AL East. But they struggled in September, losing 9 of 13 games to start the month. This left them in a tie with Boston after losing to the Red Sox on September 15. But Tampa won the next two games to reclaim the lead and eventually finished in first by two games.

After the Rays won the AL East, they beat the Chicago White Sox in the AL Division Series, three games to one. Tampa Bay faced the Red Sox in the AL Championship Series, winning in seven games to reach their first World Series. The Rays lost the World Series to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Andrew Harner and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Cliff Floyd, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used the Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites for the box score and other material.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TBA/TBA200808290.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2008/B08290TBA2008.htm

Notes

1 The club was named the Devil Rays when it joined the American League in 1998. It shortened its name to Rays after the 2007 season to take advantage of its double meaning. The name could both reflect the original ray as well as project the Florida rays of sunshine. It was the first time a team changed its nickname without moving to a new city since Houston changed from Colt .45s to Astros in 1965.

2 “Spring Training Preview: AL East,” SI.com, February 18, 2008, https://www.si.com/mlb/2008/02/18/bp-aleastpre.

3 The Rays had also been in first place several times earlier in the season: April 27, May 1, May 13-17, and May 25-June 3.

4 Longoria, who went on to receive AL Rookie of the Year honors, missed five weeks after a hit-by-pitch broke his wrist on August 7. Two-time All-Star and four-time stolen-base king Crawford appeared in only two regular-season games after August 9 because of problems with tendons in his right hand. Marc Lancaster, “First Crawford, Now Longoria: As the Rays Await Their Left Fielder’s Fate, the Rookie Third Baseman Joins Him on the DL,” Tampa Tribune, August 12, 2008: Sports, 1.

5 Trembley took over as manager when Sam Perlozzo was fired. He managed the team until 2010, when he was fired after 54 games. His overall record with the Orioles was 187-283.

6 Dan Connolly, “Wake O’s When September Ends,” Baltimore Sun, August 29, 2008: D1.

7 Guthrie eventually pitched 190⅔ innings in 2008. He averaged 197 innings pitched from 2007 to 2013.

8 The 35-year-old Floyd was given a one-year contract in December 2007. He played 80 games during his only season with the Rays. He batted .268 with 11 home runs and 39 RBIs in 80 games. After the Rays released him in November 2008, he signed with the Padres, the last of the seven teams he would play for in his 17-year career.

9 Guthrie had pitched part of three other seasons before becoming a regular part of the Orioles rotation in 2007.

10 Tony Fabrizio, “They’re Big Winners,” Tampa Tribune, August 30, 2008: 32.

11 Hernández asked third-base umpire Chad Fairchild if Iwamura had swung on the second pitch. Fairchild ruled it a no-swing. Hernandez then continued to argue with home-plate umpire Sam Holbrook. Holbrook told Hernández to throw the ball back to pitcher but the argument escalated and Hernández was ejected by Holbrook.

12 As a member of the Florida Marlins, Floyd drove in six runs against the Philadelphia Phillies in September 2000. He had five games with five RBIs.

13 Floyd’s most productive years were with the Florida Marlins (1997-2002) and the New York Mets (2003-2006).

14 Kazmir finished the season with a 12-8 record. The other starters were James Shields (14-8), Andy Sonnanstine (13-9), Matt Garza (11-9), and Edwin Jackson (14-11).

15 Fabrizio, “They’re Big Winners.”

16 Fabrizio.