Rays' ace Jake Peavy pitched a strong outing during the April 6th win

ST PETERSBURG (FL) | Rays’ pitcher Jake Peavy pitched seven innings, allowed just one earned run, and struck out five batters in a 9-1 rout over the Boston Red Sox Sunday at Tropicana Field.

Peavy threw 108 pitches and gave up just three hits in the AL East win.

“My stuff was good today,” Peavy said. “We played good defense and didn’t allow them to do anything offensively.”

Tampa took an early 3-0 lead going in to the third inning and extended it to a seven run lead after a strong fifth inning.

First year starting shortstop Ben Zobrist led the Rays’ in hitting as he went 3-for-5 at the plate and scored two runs; Akinori Iwamura led Tampa in runs-batted-in with three.

“I’m trying to come out and show these guys I belong here,” Zobrist conveyed. “It’s hard to make it this far but I’m working my tail off to improve.”

Ben Hill and Carl Crawford each had two runs-batted-in and Crawford added three runs.

Rays’ designated hitter Matt Holliday continues his struggles at the plate striking out 3-of-4 times up to bat.

Tampa is currently in second place in the AL East and has the best team earned-run-average at 3.14.