Erasmo Ramirez and the Tampa Bay Rays were roughed up by the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday, dropping their fourth game of the Spring by a 6-5 margin. In spite of the loss, however, a trio of relievers ― Matt Andriese, Jacob Faria and Jaime Schultz ― held the Tigers to just one run over the final six innings.
Things started well for Erasmo, who sailed through a 10 pitch, 1-2-3 first inning. Yet things went south in the second inning. Ramirez allowed four runs on five-hits in an incredibly inefficient 33 pitch frame. He threw eight more pitches in the third inning before he was pulled in favor of Andriese. All told, the righty posted a 7 H/5 ER/0 BB/1 WP/1 K/51 pitches (33 strikes) line.
Following the game, Ramirez told reporters he threw more fastballs than normal, as he was working on command of that pitch. And though he was not pleased with the outcome, his velocity topped out at 93 in his second outing of the Grapefruit League season ― something that made the 25 year-old hurler happy.
Though he’s put together better outings than Tuesday’s, Ramirez conceded that at least the damage occurred in a Spring Training game:
I have a good idea about what I did last year. This is Spring Training and I have to come back to myself and think about what I did during the whole season to be throwing strikes right down at the bottom and away from the homers. That’s what I want, just keep the ball in the dirt. If something happens, it has to happen with ground balls.
You can hear his interview below, courtesy of Rays Radio.
Rays manager Kevin Cash was not concerned by the rough outing, saying,
(Ramirez) threw strikes but he kind of worked behind the count a little bit and when you do that to that type of lineup, you’re gonna see some hard-hit balls. No concern whatsoever. He got his pitches in, that’s the priority right now. The fine tuning, we’re still weeks away from that.
Offensively speaking, Tampa Bay slashed 13 hits, including seven for extra bases. Tim Beckham collected his first two hits of the Spring, while Nick Franklin had two hits and two runs scored. Kyle Roller, who started in his first game for the Rays, homered, singled and drove in three runs.
The New What Next
Chris Archer will get the start against JA Happ and the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday. Also slated to make their Spring debuts are Enny Romero, Xavier Cendo, and Alex Colome. Due to the amount they are expected to be used them this season, Cash has delayed their use this spring.
Colome threw 10 or 11 innings in winter ball, and then he stopped…just because we felt it was smart for him to stop, Cash Said. And Cedeno, he had a huge workload for us last year (66 appearances). So when they came into camp, we kind of factored that in saying, let’s slow them down a little bit. We know they’re gonna be huge pieces at the back end of our bullpen.
Rays 3/9/16 Starting Lineup
Forsythe 2B
Souza RF
Longoria 3B
Dickerson LF
Guyer CF
Morrison 1B
Motter DH
Miller SS
Casali C
Archer RHP
Noteworthiness
― Steven Souza Jr., who has been limited since straining an intercostal muscle on the left side of his rib cage on February 21, said he’ll be making his Spring debut on Wednesday.
The intercostal wasn’t even a thought in the back of my mind, said Souza. So to be out of Port Charlotte and taking BP at an away stadium feels good, too, so we’re ready to go for tomorrow.
― The Rays scratched 1B/OF/DH Steve Pearce from today’s lineup due to right calf tightness.
― Welcome back, DanJo. The Great Pumpkin passed his physical, and is now a member of the Rays organization once more. Don’t expect to see him any time soon, however. Per Marc Topkin, Johnson will be in Minor League camp learning a delivery.
He passed, will be in minor league camp all spring learning a delivery so don’t think we’ll see him in a game https://t.co/MFHmC62w9A
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) March 9, 2016