The Devil Rays posted their first victory of the 2007 in games started by pitcher Edwin Jackson, defeating the Detroit Tigers in come-from-behind fashion with a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth.
There had been a movement to refer to Jackson simply as "Ed" until he posted a win, but it was a solid start so I'm cutting him a break.
Jackson appeared to be on the ropes in the second inning when the Tigers reeled off four straight hits to take a 2-0 lead. On the fourth hit--still with no outs--Jackson got hit in the face with Carl Crawford's overthrow of home plate. Apparently that woke something in Jackson, as he struck out the next three batters with an impressive mix of fastballs and change-ups. The hard-throwing righty gave up just two earned runs in six innings of work.
During the second inning, a fan caught a foul pop that Aki Iwamura was reaching after. The third-base umpire ruled no interference. Rays' manager Joe Maddon argued the call--and for some reason the fan was ejected.
If the umpire ruled no interference, what could have caused the ejection of the fan, I wonder?
I may be a bit fuzzy on the rules, but to me it looked like Iwamura would not have caught the ball even if the fan had not been there. It looked like it would have missed his glove by 6-10 inches, and the umpire had a good look at the play, alertly moving close to the wall to follow the path of the ball.
I'd prefer for Devil Ray fans to set aside their zeal for souvenirs in favor of letting the home team have a shot an an out, but I don't think this fan affected the outcome of the game even if he should have gotten out of the way to give Iwanura a better shot at the foul ball.
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