Gonzalez on target for Rays

RAYS 2, RANGERS 0: Rocco Baldelli drives in both, and Jeremi Gonzalez allows five hits.

ST. PETERSBURG - Let's face it, Jeremi Gonzalez was baseball's version of some unknown thing you might find lying on the back table at a yard sale.

After two surgeries on his arm and another on his knee, the guy was considered broken, useless, good for pretty much nothing.

Want him? Sure. Go ahead. Take him. We don't want him anymore.

Any team could have had him. For almost nothing. He was just lying around.

The Devil Rays picked him up. For almost nothing.

What a find he has been, a hidden gem.

Gonzalez continued his improbable comeback Friday with perhaps his best performance in five years. He tossed eight innings of shutout ball as the Rays beat the Rangers 2-0 before 9,676 at Tropicana Field.

"You can't pitch any better than he did," Rays manager Lou Piniella said.

Gonzalez surrendered only five hits and didn't allow a runner to reach third. He struck out six, walked one, and won his fourth game of the season.

Just as sweet for Gonzalez, he beat a team that kept him tucked away in the minors last season then didn't re-sign him.

"They didn't give me a chance," Gonzalez said. "They never gave me that phone call. They didn't call me from Triple A, so I'm pleased to beat them."

Triple A is where Gonzalez started this season, shipped there by Piniella to strengthen his arm. Piniella thought Gonzalez had a chance to help the Rays, but admitted Friday he had no idea Gonzalez would turn into one of the team's most reliable pitchers.

"He's done a real nice job," Piniella said.

Gonzalez, who is 4-4 with a 3.67 ERA in 12 starts, chalked up Friday's victory to hitting his spots and having rookie centerfielder Rocco Baldelli as a teammate.

Baldelli drove in both Rays runs with a single in the first and another in the eighth. But it was his diving catch in the fifth that helped Gonzalez keep the Rangers off the board.

With a runner on first and two outs, Baldelli raced into right-centerfield and made a sensational catch to rob Michael Young of an extra-base hit.

"That was the play of the game," Gonzalez said. "If he doesn't catch that ball, they score a run easily."

An assist on the play should go to Rays coach Billy Hatcher, who shifted Baldelli toward right-center as Young stepped into the box.

"I was lucky enough to being playing over there a little bit more," Baldelli said. "I wasn't sure (if I could catch it). It was hit pretty hard."

The rest of the game was dominated by Gonzalez, who had to endure a 19-minute delay at the start as umpires sorted out whether leftfielder Carl Crawford had to begin serving his suspension for a brawl last month. Crawford was allowed to play and will begin his suspension tonight, and Gonzalez breezed through a 1-2-3 first.

The game ended with Lance Carter nailing down his 16th save with a scoreless ninth.

The victory gave Piniella his 1,352nd victory, tying him with Chuck Tanner for 24th on the all-time list.

"I didn't realize that," Piniella said. "Let's just hope I keep moving up the ladder. You start passing some of these names that I'm passing, and you're talking about pretty good company."

Gonzalez also likes his company.

"I'm working hard and I want to win a spot here," he said. "I love it here."