Rays 7, Reds 6

Rays beats the Reds 7-6. Reds had the winning runs in the scoring position in the ninth. Drew Anderson lined to right.

"Damn," Dusty Baker said. "It's spring training but you still want to win that game."



Play-by-play:

First pitch: 1:05. Temperature: 66. Plenty of seats available.

Homer Bailey's 2008 debut isn't being met with the anticipation of of the 2007 debut. But it will be interesting. From what Dusty Baker and Dick Pole are saying, you get the idea that Bailey's bought into the program a bit more.

Rays 1st: Iwamura L6 on 3-2 count. Crawford infield single. Pena walks. Bailey's missing badly. Double steal. Upton walks. Aybar called strike 3. Gomes 6-3. No damage, lot of pitches.

Reds 1st (Edwin Jackson): Hopper F8 on a 3-2 count -- a real good pace so far. Keepinger F9. Griffey 1-3.

Rays 2nd: Longoria F9. Barlett 5-3. Riggans 6-3. That was a 5- or 6-pitch inning.

Reds 2nd: Dunn singles. Votto Foul 5. Green K. Bako K.

Volquez in. Bailey's line: 2 IP, 2 hits, no runs, 2 walks, 1 strikeout.

Rays 3rd: Iwamura L8. Crawford 3 unassited. Pena K.

Reds 3rd: (Jason Hammell): Janish double to right-center. Valentin F8. Janish to third. Hopper sac fly. Keppinger 5-3.

Rays 4th: Upton 4-3. Aybar F8. Gomes HBP. Longoria doubles, Gomes scored. Bartlett walks. Riggans singles, Longoria scores. (Justin Lehr into for Volquez) Pinch-hits Rodriguez. A balk is called. Bartlett scores, Riggans to second. Rodriguez K.

Reds 4th: Griffey walks. Dunn 4-3, pinch-runner Dickerson to second. Votto walks. Dickerson steals third. Votto steals second. Green 5-3, Dickerson scores. Bako K.

Off to Homer Bailey press conference. Will catch up when I get back.

I'm back. It's still 3-2. Lehr pitched a scoreless fifth amd Adam Pettyjohn a scoreless sixth..

Young Homer was terse.

How it go out there?

"You saw it."

How go from your perspective?

"All right. I was rushing a bit with (Carl) Crawford on. He's stole a bag or tow in his day. I settled down and got outs."

It didn't get much better than that. Homer's a bit of a smart ass. That works when you're good. If not, it gets annoying. Now, back to action.

Reds' 6th: Freel 5-3. Dickerson K. Anderson singles. APhillips 5-3.

Marcus McBeth pitching for the Reds.

Rays 7th: Two flyouts and a strikeout. Nice job by McBeth.

Reds 7th: Cabrera F7. Colina 4-3. Rolases double to left. A pure hustle double. Valentin 4-3.

Rays 8th: Bad inning for Scott Sauerbeck: He walked in a run. He then got what should have been an inning-ending double play ball. But Rosales threw it away and two runs scored. Ramon Ramirez took over. He averts further damage.

Reds 8th: Bruce singles. Freel walks. Dickerson walks. Dickerson singles, Bruce scores. Phillips walks, Freel socre. Cabrera singles, Dickerson and Anderson score. Cabreara caught stealing. Colina K.

Rays 9th: Tom Shearn gave up a run on two hits in the ninth. Freel made two nice plays at third in the inning.