Rays complete doubleheader sweep of Phillies

Philadelphia, PA – Brooks Conrad hit a pair of doubles and knocked in four runs to lead the Tampa Bay Rays past the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3, and sweep a day-night doubleheader.

Tampa Bay won the early contest, 3-2, behind Carlos Pena's three-run homer and seven innings of one-run ball from starter David Price.

Ben Zobrist added two hits and three runs scored while Sean Rodriguez had an RBI and scored twice for the Rays, who snapped a three-game slide earlier on Sunday.

Cesar Ramos made his first start since October 4, 2009 with San Diego and tossed 2 2/3 innings, allowing three walks and no hits. Brandon Gomes (2-2) received the win with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Cliff Lee (0-4) remained winless on the season by allowing five runs on six hits and three walks over a seven-inning start for Philadelphia, which lost for the third time in four games.

"A few crucial walks throughout the game ended up costing me," said Lee. "I feel like I'm better than that. I made some mistakes and they made me pay for them."

After the Phillies left a man on second in the first inning, Tampa Bay broke through in the second when Jeff Keppinger worked a leadoff walk, moved to second on a Zobrist single and came home on Rodriguez's double over the head of Shane Victorino in center field.

Conrad then pulled a double into the left-field corner to plate Zobrist and Rodriguez for a 3-0 advantage.

"You really need to get on Cliff Lee early if you're gonna beat him normally," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Because when he settles into a game, he's almost unhittable."

Philadelphia cut into its deficit in the fourth inning off Wade Davis when Hunter Pence walked and rounded the bases on Placido Polanco's double into the left-center field gap.

John Mayberry followed with a base hit up the middle to score Polanco and make it a 3-2 contest.

But Tampa Bay regained some cushion in the sixth following Zobrist's two-out single. Rodriguez then walked before both came home on Conrad's double off the wall in right-center field.

On the play, Rodriguez collided with catcher Brian Schneider at the plate as he was awaiting the throw from the outfield and Schneider was forced to leave the game with a right ankle sprain.

The Phillies answered with Polanco's RBI double in the bottom of the frame to get within 5-3, but B.J. Rosenberg issued four walks in the eighth inning to plate a run before new pitcher Jake Diekman walked in another run to stretch the Rays' lead back up to 7-3.

Philadelphia would not advance a man past first base for the remainder of the game.

Game Notes

The last time the Phillies had an interleague doubleheader was on June 28, 2006 at Baltimore, with the Orioles winning both contests...Lee struck out nine. He fell to 6-6 in 14 career starts against Tampa Bay...Ramos made just the third start of his career through 88 games...The Phillies hit 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base...The Rays went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded six.