The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox Tuesday night by a score of 5-3, taking the first game of a three game set from their AL East rivals. The Rays have now won six consecutive games, while Matt Moore has become Major League Baseball’s only 7-0 pitcher on the back of a 6.0 IP/3 H/3 R/3 ER/2 BB/8 K/1 HR outing where he threw 100 pitches (62 for strikes). Fernando Rodney got his seventh save in his first 1-2-3 outing of the season.
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Rays 5/14/13 Starting Lineup, Etc
Rays skipper Joe Maddon was back at it Tuesday, brining a Latin band into the clubhouse, and hanging nine bunches of three plantains by the players lockers (specifically by Fernando Rodney and Joel Peralta’s lockers). As you may recall, plantains were the Dominican mascot of the 2013 World Baseball Classic; something Rodney brought to the Rays in May after a rough month in April.
The New What Next: Enter the Red Sox
Come Tuesday, the 19-18 Tampa Bay Rays will welcome the 22-16 Boston Red Sox into the Trop, for the first game of a three game set against their AL East rivals. The surging Rays look to make up some ground in the East against a struggling Red Sox team, who have gone 2-8 over their last 10 games. If Tampa Bay can take the series, they’ll waltz into Baltimore at least three games over .500 and tied with the Red Sox for third place in the East. This promises to be a big series.
Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Sweep the Padres
What a difference a few days make. Five days ago, we were looking at a Rays team that had dropped two games after holding a pair of sizeable leads. And though the offense was strong, the pitching was shaky at best — especially the bullpen. Fast forward to Mother’s Day. The Rays completed a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres and are over .500 for the first time this season. What’s more, they look primed to to do damage against their AL East Rivals this week, the Boston Red Sox.
Looking Backward While Forward: The Win That Almost Wasn’t
Going into the seventh inning Saturday night, Jeremy Hellickson appeared to be on cruise-control. The Rays were up 6-2 and he’d given up only two runs on three hits, while retiring 16 consecutive batters — including six strikeouts. But then Helly did something that he’d done a few times this season: he gave up four or more runs, evaporating the Rays sizable lead.