Closer Troy Percival was placed on the disabled list for precautionary measures following his removal from a game in which he felt tightness in his hamstring after striking out a batter and then falling to the ground. Percival threw several warm-up pitches but then left the game. Scott Kazmir set a new franchise record for the most wins in one month. Kazmir lost his first start of the season in Boston, but then won his next five starts following that loss, also sporting a 1.22 ERA in all six starts. Because of this, he was named American League Pitcher of the Month. The Rays finished May with a 34–22 record, the best record in the American League, leading the division by one game over the Boston Red Sox, and had their first winning record in the month of May (19–10). June Carlos Peña fractured his left index finger on June 4, and was placed on the disabled list. He returned to the team on June 26, wearing a protective padding outside of his left batting glove to help ease impact. Rays manager Joe Maddon stated that once the Rays finished interleague play, and returned to playing American League teams, he would consider putting Pena in the designated hitter role to help ease the workload on his left index finger, as the Rays were more concerned about his ability to throw the ball, more than having to swing the bat. On June 5 the Rays were involved in a benches clearing brawl at Fenway Park with the Boston Red Sox following a series of events leading up from the previous night's game. In the previous game, Red Sox center fielder Coco Crisp attempted to steal second base, and slid into the base head first. Rays Shortstop Jason Bartlett who was covering the base on the play, knelt on his left knee while attempting to catch the throw from Catcher Dioner Navarro, which blocked the base and caused Crisp to make contact with Bartlett's leg, jamming Crisp's thumb. Crisp was safe on the play. Crisp stated that Bartlett's actions were "not something you do. You can do that, but that's shady. And he's not a bad dude, but that was shady. If you going to hurt me, I'm gonna come back and hurt you." In the same game, Crisp reached base in his next at-bat, and attempted to steal second base once