Cobb, Joyce lead Rays past Braves

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Alex Cobb overcame early struggles and ended up with a most impressive performance.

Cobb won his first start of the season, Matt Joyce hit a grand slam and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-2, yesterday.

"He believes he belongs in the big leagues and we've felt that way all along," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "You can only have so many starting pitchers."

Cobb (1-0) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings. He retired his last 10 batters.

Cobb was recalled from Triple-A Durham on Friday night to take the place of Jeff Niemann, who is on the 60-day disabled list with an injured right leg. The 24-year-old righthander went 3-2 in nine starts for Tampa Bay last season.

"Cobb was phenomenal," Joyce said. "In the first inning or two, he had the adrenaline and he was excited, but he settled in really well. He's going to be a big part of our success."

Joel Peralta pitched the eighth before Fernando Rodney got the final three outs for his 13th save of the season and 100th of his career.

After Tampa Bay loaded the bases on a pair of walks and a single in the third, Joyce put the Rays up 4-2 when he sent a 2-and-0 pitch from Randall Delgado (2-4) over the centerfield fence.

"Usually when a pitcher falls behind 2-0, they're going to try to throw a strike and that's exactly what I was looking for," Joyce said.

The Braves had scoring chances in each of the first four innings, but Cobb induced two double-play grounders.

"My game is to get ground balls, and they started finding a few holes," Cobb said. "To be able to get a little momentum going on the double plays was huge."-- AP