ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- The Texas Rangers failed to take advantage of an outstanding performance by starter Derek Holland.
Holland struck out a career-high 11 while giving up only two hits and two walks in eight innings of the Rangers' 3-1, 11-inning loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night.
"I'm very happy with the way Derek is pitching," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "I know if he continues to pitch the way he did tonight, he'll get the results and we'll get the results."
Holland threw a season-high 116 pitches, retiring five Rays in a span of seven pitches at one point.
"I'm definitely pleased (with my outing), but at the same time I'm pretty upset," Holland said. "A win is what we really wanted. I went out there and battled. They just ended getting us in that last inning. It was a great game. Both teams are playing real good ball. They came out on top."
Ben Zobrist's 11th-inning home run lifted the Rays to the victory. His 16th homer came off Mark Lowe (0-1) after a leadoff walk to B.J. Upton.
Texas relievers Mike Adams and Alexi Ogando were being rested and were unavailable to pitch.
"Mark Lowe has got to come in and get outs, too," Washington said. "Every pitcher we've got on this team has got to come in and get outs."
Wade Davis (3-0) got the win after striking out five of the six hitters he faced in the 10th and 11th innings.
"You never want to lose, but it was a real good game," Washington said. "They had the last opportunity and they got it done. There just wasn't a whole lot of runs put on the board tonight. Their bullpen did a good job of shutting us down. We did a good job of shutting them down until that bottom of the 11th right there and Zobrist caught one."
The Rays' fifth win in six games featured a total of 29 strikeouts for both teams.
Evan Longoria's fourth-inning homer, his 11th, was the first hit off Holland, who was trying to win a fourth straight start for the first time in his career.
"There's many ways to look at it," Holland said. "He's a great hitter. He's always had pretty good numbers against myself. It was just one of those pitches that I probably could have a better spot for it."
Longoria is 9 for 22 with three homers overall against Holland.
It was the second straight extra-inning game for the Rangers, who arrived at their hotel at 4:40 a.m., Friday after a 5-4, 10-inning win at Kansas City on Thursday night.
Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson pitched six innings, giving up four hits including a home run to Michael Young in the fifth inning.
It was Young's seventh home run and his third in the last five days.
David Murphy walked after Young's homer, and then Hellickson and four relievers retired the next 17 Rangers in order.
NOTES: Rays 17-game winner David Price has been scratched from his Saturday start because of shoulder soreness. Rookie RHP Chris Archer, called up from Double-A Montgomery on Friday, will start against Rangers RHP Yu Darvish (14-9) on Saturday night. ... Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon expects Price's next start to come next weekend at New York . . . Matt Harrison, the Rangers' 15-game winner, had his next start pushed back from Sunday here to Tuesday at home against Cleveland. ... It was the Rangers' fourth loss in 11 extra-inning games this season. ... Texas starters have 11 double-digit strikeouts games this season, which leads the AL.
