Baseball is weird. Prior to the start of Tampa Bay’s four-game/three-day series against the Yankees, the Rays dropped four-out-of-five to a pair of sub .500 teams — the Orioles and Red Sox. Yet, they defeated New York, 1-0, as five pitchers combined for a two-hit ball game.
Baseball is weird. Tampa Bay is the first team to blank the Yankees in 2020. Meanwhile, New York has scored just one run against the Rays in the last 30 innings between the two ball clubs (extending back to 2019).
Baseball is weird. The Yankees are 0-4 in their last four games at the Trop. In that time, they’ve hit just .115, scored only two runs, and struck out 52 times.
Baseball is weird. Last night’s contest had 11 total baserunners, one mid-inning pitching change, one short injury delay, and still lasted less than three hours (two hours and fifty-two minutes to be exact).
Baseball is weird. The Marlins are 6-1.
Blake Snell got the start Friday and fired three shutout innings against the Yankees. He allowed no hits and two walks while punching out five on 59 pitches (32 strikes, 54% strike rate). Even though Snell didn’t allow any hits or runs Friday, he struggled with his command. Even so, the southpaw worked around leadoff walks to DJ LeMahieu and Gary Sanchez in the first and third innings (respectively). Snell had hoped to go four-to-five innings, although his struggles in throwing strikes limited his mound time, although he did increase his count if just slightly. Still, he lowered his ERA to 3.38 ERA (4.25 FIP), and his K:BB now stands at 3.5:1 over eight innings across his first three starts of the season.
Me going three innings and then having to cover, I mean that’s a tough task. They’re always ready. … This bullpen is just a great bullpen. Whenever I get out of the game, I’m never worried. These guys are coming in, they’re getting it done, and it’s a great feeling as a starter to know your bullpen is that stacked and they’re going to fight.
— Blake Snell
Snell pitched opposite of fitness righty Masahiro Tanaka, who continued his mastery of the Rays. They were unable to get anything going against Tanaka, who allowed just a two-out single in the first inning to Yandy Diaz — the only base runner to reach in five innings. The right-hander was limited to 60 pitches or so, in his second start of the season, after being struck by a line drive during Summer Camp. Still, he threw five efficient innings while striking out five on 59 pitches (44 of for strikes, 75% strike rate).
Andrew Kittredge followed Snell with two perfect innings on just 24 pitches — his most efficient outing in a Rays uniform. Pete Fairbanks worked the sixth and allowed the first Yankees hit, a one-out single to right by DJ LeMahieu, however, Aaron Judge — who has an MLB-leading seven home runs — grounded into a 4-3 double play to end the threat deadlocked at zero.
On the other side of things, the Rays had a great opportunity to take the lead in the sixth inning against right-hander Luis Cessa. Kevin Kiermaier doubled to right to start the frame. Then, with a runner in scoring position, Mike Zunino squared around to bunt on the first two pitches of the at-bat, then swatted at the 2-0 offering, resulting in a pop-out to left-field. Austin Meadows followed by striking out on a ball in the dirt as Kiermaier moved into third, but Brandon Lowe popped out to third in foul territory, ending the opportunity.
Diego Castillo took over for Kittredge and nearly let the Yankees break the game open. The right-hander gave up a five pitch-free pass to Aaron Hicks, the third leadoff walk Tampa Bay allowed, before Giancarlo Stanton did the same, bringing Luke Voit to the plate.
But Voit hit a high pop-fly to shallow right, and Austin Meadows made a fantastic sliding catch in fair territory for the first out of the frame, saving a run.
Win expectancy before the play: 44 percent
Win expectancy after the play: 58.9 percent
— Juan Toribio
With the game hanging in the balance, Kevin Cash called on Nick Anderson after Castillo threw just four of 14 strikes. Anderson got Gleyber Torres to fly to right, with Hicks tagging up and moving into third, however, Gio Urshela drew a 10-pitch full-count walk to load the bases.
Anderson, however, made mincemeat out of Gary Sanchez, punching out the light-hitting backstop on three pitches.
Nick is pretty special. We don’t want to put him in those situations all the time, but we know he’s equipped to go in there. You know you’re going to get strikes out of him, and his stuff speaks for itself.
— Kevin Cash
New York couldn’t cash in one last scoring opportunity against Chaz Roe in the eighth. Mike Tauchman lined a 1-2 double to the 315 sign in left, yet he was thrown out at third as he tried to advance on LeMahieu’s grounder to short. Judge struck out swinging, and Hicks grounded out hard to second, ending the frame and setting up the Rays go-ahead rally in the bottom of the inning.
Aaron Boone called on New York’s own frisbee slider throwing right-hander Adam Ottavino, against whom Yoshi Tsutsugo drew a leadoff walk. However, the right-hander got Willy Adames looking, although Kiermaier followed and drew a one-out walk. Intent on giving the Rays a gift on his 28th birthday, Michael Perez stepped into the box to pinch-hit for Zunino. After Ottavino uncorked a wild pitch, which moved both runners into scoring position, Perez hit a sac-fly to center for the one and only run of the contest. Happy birthday to us all!
Finally, Roe took the mound again in the ninth and threw the Yankees a bunch of frisbees, none of which they could do anything with.
The New What Next
The Rays and Yankees play a pair of seven-inning games on Saturday. Tyler Glasnow (0-0, 3.12 ERA) will pitch opposite of Gerrit Cole (3-0, 2.54 ERA) in the first game, while both managers will rely in the bullpen in the second.
Tyler Glasnow allowed two earned runs on three hits and three walks with five strikeouts across 4-2/3 on Saturday. Glasnow still has some work to do on his control, however, the right-hander’s 7.6 feet of average extension from the rubber to the plate is tops in the big-leagues, and his four-pitch arsenal — including a blazing upper 90’s four-seamer — makes life difficult on opposing hitters. Glasnow struggled Saturday with location, although he offered a glimpse of how dominant he can be by punching out nine and allowing just one earned run on a solo shot against Atlanta in his first start of the season. Glasnow is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA in two career starts against New York.
Gerrit Cole allowed one earned run on five hits and one walk while striking out four across six innings Monday against the Phillies. There was a lengthy rain delay after Cole had finished six innings, and he did not get sent out for the seventh. The right-hander threw 91 pitches and 58 for strikes (64% strike rate), although didn’t have his best command in this one. Cole relies primarily on a 97 mph four-seam fastball and an 89 mph slider, while also mixing in an 83 mph curveball. He is 0-2 with a 3.51 ERA in four regular-season starts against the Rays, although we probably shouldn’t overlook what he did against them in the 2019 postseason. Key Matchups: Ji-Man Choi (4-10, 2B), Yandy Díaz (2-6), José Martínez (3-8, 2B), Joey Wendle (3-10).
You can read about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup and Noteworthiness are below.
Rays 8/8/20 Starting Lineup (game one)
- Diaz 3B
- Choi 1B
- Martinez DH
- Tsutsugo LF
- Renfroe RF
- Wendle 2B
- Adames SS
- Kiermaier CF
- Zunino C
Rays 8/8/20 Starting Lineup (game two)
Noteworthiness
— Baseball is weird. The lone run the Rays scored last night was the first in 17 innings and came without the benefit of a hit.
— As Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) writes, both teams have the ability to have a 29-man roster for the doubleheader. Ryan Thompson will fill that role for Tampa Bay. That will help as Tampa Bay did use five relievers yesterday, although all of them threw two innings or fewer.
The Rays also could activate Jose Alvarado. Alvarado was placed on the paternity list yesterday.