A timely hit by Michael Perez allowed the Tampa Bay Rays to continue their winning ways against the Marlins on Friday, as they won the first game of the Citrus Series 2.0, 5-4.
At 27-12, the Rays enter play Saturday 15 games above .500, with a 5-1/2 game lead over the second-place Yankees and Blue Jays in the division, and with a 100% chance of a postseason berth (94.0% chance of winning the AL East) with 21 games left to play according to FanGraphs.
Josh Fleming got the start Friday and allowed four runs on seven hits over five innings and 73 pitches (45 strikes, 62% strike rate, 5 swinging strikes, 9% SwStr%). He struck out two and did not issue a walk. It wasn’t Fleming’s best performance — he gave up a pair of homers to a pair of former Rays, Corey Dickerson and Jesus Aguilar — yet the offense and the relief corps picked him up and carried Fleming to his third win of the season. He is a contact pitcher, which leaves the door open for some flareups, but Fleming maintains good control, so he, ideally, will make some adjustments before his next start.
With the score knotted at 0-0 in the bottom of the second inning, Yoshi Tsutsugo hit a 406-foot solo homer to the triangle in left-center for the Rays’ first lead of the contest. Yet, the dynamic duo of Dickerson and Aguilar hit a pair of solo shots in the third and fourth innings (respectively) to put the Fish ahead by a run.
Fortunately Tampa Bay took the lead for good against Pablo Lopez in a 38 pitch fourth inning.
Joey Wendle hit a single to left then proceeded to swipe second, while Austin Meadows walked to put two on with none out. After Willy Adames — who had a tough night overall, going 0-4 and committing a potentially costly error in the ninth — struck out, Tsutsugo dropped a single in front of Lewis Brinson in right, loading the bases. Manuel Margot lined out softly to second, but Kevin Kiermaier earned a free pass to walk in a run and tie the game at two.
Michael Perez capped the scoring by lining a double to the left-center gap, putting the Rays up by three.
While the perception may be that Perez is substantially better at the plate than Mike Zunino, however, the reality is that neither player is an offensive juggernaut — nor is the catching platoon as a whole. As Jared Ward (DRaysBay) points out…
Mikey Perez: 53 PA, .167 BA/.226 OBP/.229 SLG, .209 wOBA, 28 wRC+
Mike Zunino: 68 PA, .133 BA/.235 OBP/.383 SLG, .267 wOBA, 68 wRC+
In other words, Perez isn’t hitting better, rather he tends to get timely hits in clutch moments like the one above.
The sizeable lead wouldn’t last long, as the Marlins answered for two two-out runs the very next inning. Fleming got Miguel Rojas and Dickerson out before Jorge Alfaro and Brinson hit back-to-back singles. Berti then lined a ball to the right-center gap that registered 103 mph off the bat. Kiermaier got a great jump on the ball, but it glanced off the tip of his glove, allowing both runners to score on the double. In the next at-bat, Wendle made a diving stop on a Starling Marte grounder to third, but Marte beat the throw to put runners on the corners. As luck would have it, Garrett Cooper grounded to second Fleming, keeping Tampa Bay in front and ending Fleming’s night.
The Rays had multiple chances to add to the lead although they left a lot of chicken on the bone. In the bottom of the fifth, Tampa Bay was unable to take advantage of two walks and a base loading single by Meadows that Marte lost in the roof. Reliever Nick Vincent struck out Margot looking on a full-count pitch that dotted the outside corner to end the threat.
Three innings later, Tsutsugo drew a one-out walk against reliever James Hoyt. Newcomer Brett Phillips pinch-ran and went to second on an errant pickoff throw. Margot finally earned his walk which led to the two executing a perfect double steal. But — and stop me if you’ve heard this one before — Kiermaier struck out, while Perez flew out to deep center, ending, you guessed it, the threat.
The Stable was able to preserve the lead in relief of Fleming. Ryan Thompson struck out the side in the sixth inning, while Pete Fairbanks worked around a Matt Joyce double to right an inning later. Berti walked against Fairbanks, but Marte grounded into a 6-4 fielder’s choice, ending the frame. Diego Castillo hurled a perfect eighth, including a punchout after a pair of groundouts.
Nick Anderson, who made a rehab outing on Wednesday, took over in the ninth and, well…looked like a player who had been on the shelf since August 19th. Anderson’s velocity was in the 95/96 mph range and he walked Miguel Rojas (the leadoff batter) on five pitches. For context, prior to Friday, the right-hander had walked just one and struck out 15 this season.
Jazz Chisholm pinch-ran for Rojas before Corey Dickerson hit a ground ball to the hole at short. Adames backhanded the play but couldn’t get a good grip on the ball which went for an error — allowing both runners to safely reach base. Jorge Alfaro grounded to Wendle at third, and Joey was able to get the lead runner for the first out, but he wasn’t able to get Dickerson sliding into second in time.
With two on and one out, Anderson got Joyce to pop out on the infield, bringing the speedy Berti to the plate. The right-hander got ahead of Berti 0-2 on two 95 mph center/center fastballs (talk about lucky), however, the rusty Anderson continued to misplace fastball after fastball, forcing him into a full count.
He, however, got lucky when home plate umpire Marty Foster gifted the scuffling hurler strike three to end the game. A win is a win, even if it isn’t pristine.
The New What Next
Blake Snell (3-0, 3.14 ERA) will get the start in the middle game of the set, pitching opposite of Sandy Alcantara (1-1, 5.06 ERA).
Blake Snell allowed two runs on four hits and two walks while striking out five across five innings against the Marlins on Sunday. The southpaw now feels as though he’s completely recovered from the shoulder issue that bothered him during Spring Training, and his results have backed up that claim. He now maintains a 3.14 ERA and 37:9 K:BB over 28-2/3 innings and seven starts this season. Snell is 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two career starts against the Marlins.
Sandy Alcántara allowed eight runs (five earned) on six hits and two walks while punching out two over four innings on Sunday against the Rays. Alcantara was shelved for the past month after testing positive for COVID-19 but he was roughed up in his return to the mound as the Rays tallied three runs in the first inning, making for a short day as Tampa Bay continued to drive up the score. Key Matchups: Willy Adames (1-2), Ji-Man Choi (2-3, 2B), Yoshi Tsutsugo (1-2, HR), Joey Wendle (1-3, HR).
You can read about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup is below.
Rays 9/5/20 Starting Lineup
- Wendle SS
- B. Lowe 2B
- Choi 1B
- Meadows LF
- N. Lowe 3B
- Renfroe RF
- Tsutsugo DH
- Kiermaier CF
- Perez C