What looked to be a death-by-a-thousand-cuts type of loss turned into the Rays’ fifth consecutive win, as Tampa Bay — powered by the big bats of Luke Raley, Josh Lowe, and Yandy Díaz — launched three home runs in the ninth to come from behind and defeat the Nationals, 10-6. The Rays have now put together a 5-0 start to the season for the first time in franchise history.
Tampa Bay took an early, three-run lead in the opening frame…on the first 12 pitches of the ball game. Díaz led off the contest with a first-pitch base hit off Chad Kuhl before Brandon Lowe moved the big fella up to second two pitches later on a single of his own. Big Randy Arozarena followed with a double to right, putting the Rays on the board, 1-0, before Wander Franco drove in the second run on a productive ground-out to second.
Two pitches later, Luke Raley capped the scoring on a sacrifice-fly to left.
However, Josh Fleming couldn’t seem to pitch effectively to both sides of the plate, and the Nationals took notice fairly quickly. Fleming pitched to the outside part of the plate with regularity, and Nats’ hitters went with the pitches thrown — lashing more than a few to the opposite field. As a result, Washington drove in two runs on a base hit in the first inning, two more on a double in the second inning, and a fifth and final run off the left-hander in the fifth inning. To be fair, Fleming was BABIP’d to death to the tune of a .625 batting average on balls in play, yet he still allowed five runs on 10 hits and one walk across three-plus innings on 71 pitches (50 strikes, 70% strike rate).
The Nationals scored another run in the seventh inning off Kevin Kelly after Alex Call led off the frame with a single. Luis García drove in Call from first on a double to right, capping their scoring. Kelly worked around a hit-by-pitch to limit the damage.
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay’s offense went dormant from the second inning — after José Siri hit his second home run of the season — to the eighth inning, which included a stretch of eight consecutive batters retired by Kuhl, who settled in after a rocky first couple of innings.
Be that as it may, another Arozarena RBI double would set the stage for an epic comeback in the ninth.
Raley and J. Lowe greeted Kyle Finnegan rather rudely with back-to-back home runs, allowing Tampa Bay to regain the lead for the first time in seven frames.
Even though Manuel Margot was picked off second after he pinch-ran for Isaac Paredes, who earned a free pass, for the first out of the frame, Finnegan allowed a Taylor Walls single to center and a Siri two-bagger to put a pair of runners in scoring position.
Three pitches later, Díaz sent a three-run missile to left-center, sounding the death knell for the Nationals.
Eight Pete Fairbanks pitches later (resulting in a fly-ball out, a foul out, and a ground ball out), the Rays earned their first come-from-behind win of the season.
The New What Next
With their second consecutive series win in their back pocket, the Tampa Bay Rays will go for their second consecutive series sweep Wednesday afternoon with Shane McClanahan (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1,93 FIP) on the mound. He’ll be opposed by Patrick Corbin (0-1, 6.00 ERA, 4.43 FIP) in the series finale.
Shane McClanahan made his second Opening Day start in as many years, yet he appeared to almost be in mid-season form, turning in a six-inning scoreless outing on 87 pitches (58 strikes, 67% strike rate, 18% SwStr). The left-hander worked around a Javier Báez one-out single in the first, an Austin Meadows one-out double in the second, a walk and an infield single in the third, and a single in the fourth, striking out six along the way. McClanahan leaned primarily on his 96.7 mph heater (up 0.6 mph over his 2022 average), throwing it 56% of the time (49 total), while coaxing eight whiffs. Yet, it was his changeup that coaxed the most swings and misses as a total percentage of pitches thrown — five whiffs on 17 changeups. That’s neither shocking nor surprising. McClanahan gave up three runs on five hits (including two homers) in his lone start against Washington, a three-inning outing.
Patrick Corbin allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits over three-plus innings during the season opener against Atlanta on Thursday. He had three strikeouts and three walks. Corbin struggled against Atlanta’s deep and dangerous offensive attack and often pitched from behind — throwing a first-pitch strike to just seven of the 20 batters he faced. It’s an ominous start to 2023 after going 6-19 with a 6.31 ERA last season. He relies primarily on a 79 mph slider that has some two-plane movement and a 91 mph sinker that has some natural sinking action, while also mixing in an 80 mph changeup. Corbin is 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA in one career outing against Tampa Bay. Key Matchups: Randy Arozarena (2-4, 2 RBI), Christian Bethancourt (1-3, 2B, BB), Yandy Díaz (1-4, BB), Manuel Margot (7-26, 3 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, BB), Harold Ramírez (4-12, 2B, RBI)
You can read about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup is below.
Rays 4/5/23 Starting Lineup
- Díaz 1B
- Franco SS
- Paredes 3B
- Arozarena LF
- Ramírez DH
- Margot RF
- Walls 2B
- Siri CF
- Mejía C