Rays jump out to 5-0 lead

Nothing says Happy Easter like a leadoff doubled off the left-center field wall by Aki Iwamura, unless it’s a three-run jack by Carlos Pena over the same wall.

That’s how things started here at the Ed. Squeeze in a walk to Carl Crawford prior to Pena’s at-bat and you have the Rays 3, Reds 0.

That was Pena’s third home run of the spring. He’s now tied with Evan Longoria for the team-lead with 10 RBIs.

Rays starter Johnny Cueto, who’s looked good this spring, got Upton and Hinske to bounce out to the right side of the infield, but a two-out walk to Navarro brings the pitching coach to the mound and Bryan Adam’s to the PA system, singing “Summer of ’69,” which is one of my favorite Bryan Adams song. I saw him in concert at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., back in the day.

The little talk with Dick Pole didn’t help much.

Bartlett walks on four pitches.

These are certainly not the best days of Cueto’s life.

He’s up to 30 pitches.

And there goes pitch No. 31, a drive off the left-center field wall by Joel Guzman that scores Navie and Bartlett.

Rays 5, Reds 0

Cueto’s first pitch to Matt Garza is hard and inside, and someone yells from the stands, “Come on, Jonny, that’s the pitcher.”

Pitcher or not, Cueto walks Garza on four pitches, bringing boos from this Ester Sunday crowd.

Cueto falls behind Aki 3-1.

This first inning is taking longer than the last two minutes of an NCAA tournament game.

Aki draws a full-count walk to lead the bases.

Reds manager Dusty Baker receives perhaps his loudest ovation of the spring when he walks slowly to the mound to remove Cueto, who threw 41 pitches, only 18 for strikes.
Cueto is booed.

How do you boo someone on Easter Sunday?

A butterfly just flew the press box. It was a caterpillar when this inning started.
Jim Brower replaces Cueto and gets Crawford to bounce out to short.

The Rays sent 11 batters to the plate.

And the ATMs aren’t working here at Ed Smith. This is starting out as a bad day for Reds fans.