ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Evan Longoria felt the kind of butterflies he normally experiences on Opening Day. And in a way, Tuesday night was like his second one of the 2012 season.
After missing 85 games with a torn hamstring, the Tampa Bay Rays' long-lost team leader re-introduced himself at Tropicana Field with a key sacrifice fly and a single as designated hitter — and, most importantly, no health setbacks — in a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
"I was probably as nervous as I've ever been to play a game," Longoria said. "I had the good kind of butterflies. I was excited. So it's weird to kind of experience that two times in a year. It's all smiles and a good day."
The Rays were certainly smiling, visibly upbeat to see Longoria in his first game since injuring his hamstring sliding into second base on April 30. They were 15-8 at the time, but then went on a roller-coaster ride of 41-44 in his absence while utilizing eight different players to fill in at third base.
Make it 16-8 with Longo in the lineup again, raising Tampa Bay's record to 57-52 with its fourth win in six games. Remarkably, the Rays are now just six games behind the slumping first-place New York Yankees in the AL East and 1 1/2 games behind in the race for the second wild-card spot.
"It's weird to go into a game, just trying to make it out healthy," Longoria said. "Sometimes, it's the little things that are important. And today was a huge stepping stone. … The intensity is a lot different at the big-league level than it is anywhere else and it's tough to replicate. There was nothing about today that was negative."
Longoria came to the plate with the bases loaded in the third inning and drove in Desmond Jennings on a long sacrifice fly to right-center, giving the Rays a 2-0 lead. He added his single to center to lead off the eighth, and was then lifted for pinch-runner Sam Fuld — leaving the field to a loud ovation from the small crowd of 13,823.
"We get a win, which is most important," Longoria said. "And I get an opportunity with the bases loaded and have a good at-bat and come out with a good result there. And no setbacks. I felt great. And nothing to say about that — it was a good day."
Good enough to overshadow a second straight excellent pitching performance by James Shields, who went eight innings and allowed just two hits while walking on. He improved to 10-7 with a 4.09 ERA, continuing the run of terrific pitching the Rays have enjoyed since the All-Star break. In the last 23 games, they lead the majors in team ERA (2.28), strikeouts (233) and opponent's batting average (.198).
Closer Fernando Rodney also picked up his 33rd save in 34 attempts and extended his scoreless streak to 22 innings, passing Joe Borowski's 2005 mark for the team record for a reliever.
"Shields was outstanding to get through eight innings again," Maddon said. He wasn't as sharp as last time (in a complete-game, three-hit shutout against Oakland) but he was really good tonight."
And Longoria?
"It's great to have him back in spikes. You can see everyone else around him and it always looks a little better, obviously. He hit a ball to the right-center field fence and I thought he might have had it. I really liked his base-hit up the middle and he worked good at-bats. It's nice to have him back."
The day began with a familiar sight at the Trop — a crush of reporters, radio mikes and TV cameras zeroing in on Longoria prior to the game. He had just been officially activated from the disabled list and penciled into the cleanup spot at DH after an eight-game rehab stint with Triple-A Durham.
"It's good to be back, I tell you what," Longoria said. "I'm excited."
In a corresponding move, the Rays made room on the active roster by optioning infielder Will Rhymes back to Durham and designated switch-hitting utility man Brooks Conrad for assignment.
That cleared the way for the return of the player who has so often been the catalyst of Tampa Bay's offense. And for a team struggling so much at the plate this season — currently hitting a paltry .230 — Longoria's bat was a welcome addition.
In his recent Durham stint, he served strictly as DH, going 5-for-25 with three RBI, seven walks and a .382 on base percentage. Prior to his injury, sustained on a slide into second base on April 30, Longoria was hitting .329 (27-for-82) with four homers and 19 RBI.
He felt increasingly good playing for the Bulls. And after his game Sunday afternoon, he sent a text to Maddon, Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and trainer Ron Porterfield saying he thought he was ready to return.
"The good thing is it was getting better," he explained. "I wasn't feeling any residual soreness or anything like that."
Maddon, talking to the media before game, expressed his delight in Longoria's return but also a caution.
"When a guy like Longo comes back, people are really going to read into it and heap all these unnecessary, unreachable expectations," he said. "So just come out and play your game. Be yourself, one day at a time. ... And if he's able to do that, I'll be very pleased.
"Part of it is by being in the lineup, everybody else gets pitched a little bit differently. They might see something better, and that's a good thing."
Longoria said he doesn't believe there's any set limit to how many games he can play consecutively.
"It's kind of communication process between myself and Joe and the trainers," he explained. "I don't want put a number on it but I don't see it being it being a one, two or three-day thing and having to take one off. Hopefully, more than three and go from there. We'll kind of take it one day at a time."
The plan will be for Longoria to remain as designated hitter until he feels ready to return to third base. That job has been manned by recently acquired Ryan Roberts, who contributed a dazzling back-handed stop and nice throw for a key out in the ninth inning.
Meanwhile, Longoria's teammates couldn't be happier he's back.
"When you have a guy who can do what Longoria can do, it impacts the players around you, just because pitchers can't pitch around you if Longo's hitting behind you," said right fielder Matt Joyce. "Maybe they'll attack you and give you more pitches to hit if he's hitting behind you. If he's hitting in front of you, he's a guy who's going to get on base and move runners ahead and hit doubles.
"Obviously, he's a great hitter and he's going to take his walks and get on base. So any way you look at it, it just makes the lineup that much better."
One example of that: Longoria is averaging one RBI every 4.25 at-bats this season (85, 20 RBI). The Rays' other third and fourth hitters averaged one RBI for every 11.7 at-bats (643, 55 RBI) during his time on the disabled list.
Beyond numbers, his mere presence seemed to boost the energy level in the dugout.
"It was fun," Longoria said. "It's always good to be back here. It's not the same when you're on the bench just watching as a cheerleader. When you get to contribute and help out any way you can, it's a different vibe. It was fun to be in there today."
