Rays End 11-Game Skin; Hernandez Ineffective -- Again; Matusz Shut Down, '10 Schedule Out...

Last night, the Tampa Bay Rays – who fell out of the playoff hunt with an 11-game losing streak – came into Baltimore with David Price on the mound to somehow themselves again.

Tampa did as they jumped on starter David Hernandez and the Rays ended up with an 8-4 win over the Orioles. Tampa ended an 11-game losing streak; however, the larger story may be the struggles of Hernandez. Baltimore was actually up 4-1 at one point thanks to hammering starting pitcher David Price for Tampa to the tune of four runs – all on singles during the opening frame, but he would shut them down for the rest of game.

Hernandez looked so promising, when he came up, but now it's a different story. If you want to read a sobering piece of reality, here’s what Dan Connolly wrote in the sun about the hurler:

“It was the second consecutive outing in which Hernandez failed to get at least 10 outs, and the third straight in which he has allowed at least five runs.

In his first 13 big league starts, Hernandez (4-8) had yielded five runs or more on only three occasions.

Despite Monday's short outing -- he was lifted after allowing a homer and a walk to start the fourth -- Hernandez, 24, officially eclipsed his career high in innings pitched for a season. And it's showing. He's now 1-6 with a 7.86 ERA in his last nine games.”

I’m sure most people who saw the game know what happened, the Rays jumped on Hernandez in the fourth with four runs when Baltimore had the lead, 4-2. A two-run homer by Reid Brignac and a B.J. Upton solo shot put the Rays up 5-4 when the frame end; thereafter, in the fifth inning, Tampa Bay scored three times thanks to inept fielding by Baltimore due to a Nolan Reimold error that sailed over home plate, followed by a errant toss by Brian Bass to third.

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