Brad Miller's double scored Curt Casali and Brandon Guyer to put the Rays up, 10-2, in the seventh. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
Brad Miller’s double scored Curt Casali and Brandon Guyer to put the Rays up, 10-2, in the seventh. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
The Tampa Bay Rays continued to rack up the runs against Toronto pitching on Tuesday night, tagging Marcus Stroman with his worst start of the season in a resounding 12-2 victory over the Blue Jays. Tampa Bay has now scored at least six runs in four consecutive games, and 25 combined runs over the last two.


Source: FanGraphs

Stroman held the Rays to just four runs in 16 innings in his first two starts of the season, however, Tampa Bay ― faced with a formidable challenge ― jumped out in front in the first inning and never looked back. The rally started with two outs when Evan Longoria extended his hit streak to six games with a single to left. Two pitches later, Steve Pearce plated the first run of the contest on a double to left-center.

Still, Toronto answered in the bottom of the inning after Michael Saunders walked on seven pitches. Two batters later, Jose Bautista hammered a two-run shot to dead center off Chris Archer for a one-run advantage. That lead, however, would be short-lived.

Logan Morrison has strung together some good at-bats lately, and Tuesday night would be no different. With one out in the second, Morrison singled to left, then went to third on Kevin Kiermaier’s double to right. A slow grounder to third off the bat of Curt Casali scored Morrison, tying the game at two apiece. Brandon Guyer followed with a single to left, giving the Rays all the runs they would need on the night, but why stop there, right? Guyer swiped second to get into scoring position, and came home Brad Miller’s triple to right-center.

The Rays continued to pile on the runs in the third. Steven Souza Jr. and Corey Dickerson went back-to-back with one-out singles, putting runners at the corners. Still seeking his first RBI of the season, Morrison beat out a potential double-play ball, as Souza scored for a three-run advantage. It only took 87 at-bats for Morrison to plate his first run.

Per the Elias Sports Bureau, the Rays scored in each of the first three innings in consecutive games for the first time in franchise history.

Tampa Bay tacked on two more in the fourth. After Pearce drew a leadoff walk, then went to third on Corey Dickerson’s one-out double to left, Morrison came up with his second RBI of the season on a single to right. Kevin Kiermaier capped the inning with a run-scoring hit for a five run advantage.

Meanwhile, Archer steadied himself after a 32-pitch, two-hit, two-walk, two-run first inning. He allowed just two hits and two walks over the next five innings, throwing 73 pitches while allowing no other runs over that stretch. Overall, Archer gave up four hits and four walks while striking out seven over six innings on 105 pitches (60 strikes).

Chris still had a hard time getting started — something that’s plagued him for the majority of his nine starts. And though his plan was to be more aggressive from the first pitch, he couldn’t quite put that strategy into action. Be that as it may, he kept the Jays off balance by throwing fastballs in counts when he would normally put opposing batters away with sliders, and otherwise made the big pitch when he needed to.

location.php

Being able to pitch five scoreless innings after how it started is something I can hang my hat on, Archer said following the game.

Tampa Bay continued to pour it on late, scoring three more runs, all after two outs against the ambidextrous switch-pitcher Pat Venditte in the seventh, thanks in part to back-to-back errors by Josh Donaldson. The second error scored a run, and Miller followed with a two-run double to the Rays up by eight.

Enny Romero followed Archer with a perfect seventh, collecting two strikeouts and a grounder. Ryan Webb took over in the eighth inning and quickly got into a scary situation when he was hit in the jaw by Jimmy Paredes’ liner. The hard shot appeared to hit Webb on his glove hand before striking his face. Webb stayed in the game, however, and got the next batter — Edwin Encarnacion — to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Taylor Motter capped the scoring with a two-run homer as a pinch-hitter before Dana Eveland tossed a perfect ninth to close things out. It was Motter’s second hit in the majors and first MLB homer.

All told, Tampa Bay collected 17 hits for the second consecutive night. The last time the Rays had at least 17 hits in back-to-back games was April 12-13, 2009, when they did it against Baltimore and New York.

The New What Next

RHP Jake Odorizzi (0-2, 3.83) will take the mound against RHP R.A. Dickey (2-4, 4.31) in the series finale. Odorizzi is winless in eight starts, matching the second-longest winless start to a season in team history. RHP Tanyon Sturtze was winless in 15 straight starts to begin the 2002 season. Dickey is 8-8 with a 4.25 ERA in 23 career games against the Rays. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 5/18/16 Starting Lineup

Guyer DH
Motter SS
Longoria 3B
Souza RF
Morrison 1B
Jennings LF
Kiermaier CF
Conger C
Beckham 2B
Odorizzi RHP

Noteworthiness

— Prior to Guyer’s second inning stolen stolen base, Stroman had allowed just two steals on the season. It was a gutsy decision by a gritty player…a decision that paid dividends.

— As for Miller, he ended the night a homer shy of the cycle. How ironic is it that Motter, who pinch hit in his spot in the order, hit a homer?

— Florida pride!

Leave a comment