DEVIL RAYS 15, REDS 1
at St. Petersburg, Fla.
Friday, March 23

Devil Rays at the plate: The Rays struck first with four runs in the second inning. Delmon Young ripped an RBI single before Jonny Gomes followed with an RBI single and Josh Paul laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Akinora Iwamura. Elijah Dukes plated Gomes with a triple to right. Later, in the sixth, Dukes doubled, stole a base and scored a run on a double by Gomes. Ben Zobrist led off the seventh with a home run to right, his first of the spring. Gomes added a three-run home run in the eighth. Gomes and Zobrist had seven RBIs between them as the Rays racked up 14 hits.

Reds at the plate: Ryan Freel began the game with a single off Rays left-hander J.P. Howell and advanced to third on a one-out double by Brandon Phillips. Josh Hamilton, who was making his return to St. Petersburg as a former Devil Rays prospect, grounded out to second to score Freel. Hamilton later singled in the sixth.

Devil Rays on the mound: Howell, who entered the game with a 1.80 ERA this spring, allowed one runs on four hits in five innings. The 23-year-old left-hander, who is vying for the final spot in the rotation with Saturday starter Edwin Jackson, battled out of trouble in the first after allowing a single and a double. Howell went the rest of the way unscathed. The lefty, who tossed 89 pitches, 56 of them strikes, had five strikeouts and one walk. Reliever Shawn Camp pitched two scoreless innings and allowed one hit while striking out three.

Reds on the mound: Harang went six innings and gave up six runs on eight hits with no walks and six strikeouts. Jared Burton, a Rule 5 Draft pick battling for a bullpen spot, surrendered two runs on three hits, including a home run. He had three walks and no strikeouts.

Grapefruit League records: Devil Rays 7-16; Reds 14-7.

Coming up: The Devil Rays host the Red Sox on Saturday in their first meeting of the 2007 Grapefruit League schedule. Jackson will make his second start and his sixth appearance of the spring in the 1:05 p.m. ET afternoon game at Progress Energy Park in St. Petersburg. Ruddy Lugo, Gary Glover and Juan Salas are also scheduled to pitch. Righties Seth McClung and Brian Stokes will toss an inning each in a Minor League game in Clearwater.

Reds right-hander Bronson Arroyo, who has a 1-1 record with a 2.31 spring ERA, is slated to start his fourth spring game when the Reds host the Phillies at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday in Sarasota.