Rays-Astros Preview

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon hopes the way Jeff Niemann pitched in his first start in more than a month will set the tone for a successful remainder of the season for the Rays right-hander.
Niemann looks to build on his latest effort while trying to help the Rays complete a three-game sweep of the struggling Houston Astros on Sunday at Minute Maid Park.
After spending 45 days on the disabled list with a strained lower back, Niemann (2-4, 4.82 ERA) allowed

four hits and struck out five in six scoreless innings of an 8-4 win at Milwaukee on Monday in his first action since May 4.
"To pitch that well really gets you going in the right direction, no question about that," Maddon said. "I'd like to believe what he did is going to bolster his confidence a bit and get him ready for the next outing."
Niemann, 25-14 the previous two seasons, is just happy to be back on the mound for a Tampa Bay club that has won seven of eight - all against NL opponents.
"The biggest thing is it's just nice to be back and be a contributing member of the team again," he said.
Niemann provided a strong contribution when he gave up two runs and four hits in seven innings of the Rays' 4-2 win at Houston on May 22, 2010.
He will try to help the Rays (43-34) win their fourth in a row following Saturday's 7-2 victory. Tampa Bay has won four straight at Minute Maid Park, where the Astros have dropped a season-high five in a row and 13 of 15.
"I don't think right now anybody is really standing out, we're just getting hits at the right time," said B.J. Upton, who homered for the second straight game.
Casey Kotchman had three hits and Wade Davis threw seven strong innings for Tampa Bay, which has averaged 5.4 runs during a 4-1 road trip.
"This game is tough no matter who you play," said third baseman Evan Longoria, 4 for 8 with five RBIs in the series. "We've done a really good job on this road trip."
Kotchman is batting .393 (11 for 28) his last seven games and is 3 for 7 with a double and homer against scheduled starter J.A. Happ (3-9, 5.33), who makes his first start against the Rays looking for his first win since May 14.
The left-hander allowed seven runs and eight hits in 2 2-3 innings of an 8-3 loss at Texas on Monday to fall to 0-5 with a 5.25 ERA in his last seven starts.
"Good pitchers get out of those kinds of things," Happ told the Astros' official website. "In the past I have, and I take pride in overcoming those kinds of things. It just seems like I've been struggling to a little bit."
Hunter Pence and Carlos Lee each had an RBI on Saturday for the Astros (28-50), who have totaled 15 runs while losing five of six. Lee had two hits, but is batting .167 (4 for 24) his last six games.
A lifetime .298 hitter at Minute Maid Park, Pence has batted just .211 (4 for 19) with five RBIs in five home games versus Tampa Bay.

Astros tee off on Feliz in 9th to beat Rangers (Photo Gallery)

ARLINGTON -- The report manager Ron Washington received Wednesday afternoon was that Neftali Feliz would be ready to go later that night.
Pitching coach Mike Maddux delivered the message directly from Feliz, who only a night earlier had pitched two innings and thrown 35 pitches.
So, when the ninth inning rolled around Wednesday night with the Rangers in a save situation,

Feliz was brought in from the bullpen to close out a series sweep of Houston.
Four hits, four runs and a blown save later, the Astros were the ones exiting Rangers Ballpark with a victory. Feliz and Washington, though, weren't doing any second-guessing.
Feliz got only two outs as the Astros charged back from a two-run deficit and avoided a three-game sweep with a 5-3 victory at Rangers Ballpark.
The Lone Star Series will resume Tuesday at Minute Maid Park.
"Right guy, right spot, didn't get it done," Washington 

said. "We're not going to sit here and make excuses. He was still 95, 96 mph. He just put the ball in some wrong spots, and they hit the ball hard."

Colby Lewis pitched with stiffness in his neck over seven scoreless innings, and Michael Young had just delivered an RBI double in the eighth for a 3-1 lead to cancel out a run the Astros had scored in the top of the inning.
Carlos Lee, though, started the ninth with a double over third base and scored one out later on a double down the left-field line by Chris Johnson.
After an infield hit by Jason Michaels, Johnson scored on a passed ball against Yorvit Torrealba to tie the

game.
Pinch-hitter Matt Downs followed with a two-run shot -- the Astros' first homer in eight games and 338 at-bats -- to hand Feliz a fourth blown save.
He blew only three in 43 chances last season.
"The result was not the one I was expecting," he said.
"I felt good. My arm was OK. I didn't feel anything wrong with my arm that wouldn't let me pitch today."
The Rangers missed a chance to move three games up on Seattle in the American League West. They led from the start, opening with a run in the first as leadoff 

man Ian Kinsler singled, stole second without a throw, went to third on a Josh Hamilton grounder, and scored on a wild pitch.

Nelson Cruz launched a homer estimated at 415 feet off a window of the Diamond Club in left field in the fifth to stake Lewis to a 2-0 lead.
Lewis had allowed only two hits when he began the seventh. Washington, Maddux and assistant trainer Kevin Harmon went to the mound to check on Lewis, who had what was later reported as neck stiffness.
The right-hander stayed in the game and pitched around a third Astros hit. He was at 103 pitches 

entering the eighth, but the Rangers didn't let him return.

"It got tight after the fifth and spasmed up there in sixth," said Lewis, who said he started having neck issues after his last start at Atlanta.
"It was almost gone coming into today, and I could barely feel it. It flared up."
So did the Astros' bats against Feliz, who blew a save for the first time since May 27.
The previous three all came against Kansas City.
"It's something that happens," Feliz said. "I left some pitches up in the zone. They hit it, and that was the result."