Tyler Glasnow battled through five frames in the Bronx, limiting the Yankees to just one run, while the Tampa Bay Rays hit three two-out homers en route to a 6-3 victory over New York, on Saturday. The Rays now are 4-1 against the Yankees this season.
Glasnow was shaky from the start, and, subsequently, walked four batters in his outing after walking just three all season. He left the bases loaded after a 30-pitch first inning, then stranded runners on the corners in a 24-pitch second. Both frames marked the highest single-inning pitch counts Glasnow had thrown this season, and both necessitated mound visits from pitching coach Kyle Snyder. However, Glasnow regained the feel for his high-90s fastball which he used to strike out three Yankees across perfect third and fourth innings.
I would just say that whole start was a grind. Out of 30 starts or whatever a year, you’re gonna have some like that. This one, from start to finish, was pretty taxing.
— Tyler Glasnow
Then in the fifth inning, Glasnow grimaced in pain and shook off his glove, consequently grabbing and stretching his left hand. Yet what appeared to be a scary situation turned out to be a bout with cramps, which Glasnow remedied by chugging water, Gatorade, and a Right Stuff energy packet.
It was so bad, I couldn’t stretch it out. And then it just kept getting worse and worse.
— Tyler Glasnow
Even though the right-hander described his outing as “weird,” “uncomfortable” and “sluggish,” Glasnow still befuddled the Yankees, allowing only one run on two hits while striking out seven on 105 pitches (62 strikes, 59% strike rate, 13 swings and misses, 12% SwStr%). He now has surrendered just two runs over 24-2/3 innings to open the 2021 season.
Meanwhile, the Rays had just two hits against starter Jordan Montgomery although they made them count.
Tampa Bay took a one-run lead in the second inning when Francisco Mejía hit a 365-foot opposite-field homer off Jordan Montgomery to right. It was Mejía’s first homer as a Ray, and would only be a home run in one ballpark: Yankee Stadium.
Then with the game tied at one apiece, Austin Meadows walked on four pitches. A few pitches later, Manuel Margot homered into the bullpen in left-center on the first pitch, a changeup, of the at-bat, making it 3-1 Tampa Bay.
Tampa Bay added two more runs in the seventh inning after Margot grounded into a fielder’s choice that initially was called a double play but was overturned upon review. He swiped second and moved up to third on Mejía’s flyout to right before Joey Wendle belted his second homer of the season, putting the Rays up 5-1.
Even though Jeffrey Springs and allowed a one-out homer to Rougned Odor before Collin McHugh surrendered another run on an Aaron Judge RBI double to right-center in the bottom of the seventh, Tampa Bay added a demoralizing insurance run in the eighth, capping the scoring.
Yandy Díaz singled to right field, then moved up 90 feet on a passed ball. Díaz came around to score when Mejía doubled down the left-field line off Justin Wilson, making the game 6-3.
All told, the Rays went 2-for-6 wRISP (.333 BA wRISP) on the day while plating five of their six runs with two outs.
The New What Next
The Rays look to get back to the .500 mark this afternoon with the tandem of Andrew Kittredge (2-0, 1.68 ERA) and Ryan Yarbrough (0-2, 6.48 ERA) on the mound. They’ll pitch opposite of Gerrit Cole (2-0, 1.47 ERA).
Andrew Kittredge will serve as the opener for the first time this season on Sunday, and the 10th time of his career. The right-hander has made four relief appearances this season, working to a 1.69 ERA and 1.31 WHIP across 5-1/3 innings. Ryan Yarbrough will serve as the primary pitcher and pitch the bulk of the innings Sunday afternoon.
Ryan Yarbrough surrendered six runs on 10 hits and a walk while striking out six across six innings on Tuesday. Although Yarbrough was able to miss a decent number of bats while avoiding any long balls, the Rangers found their way onto the scoreboard repeatedly, more often than not by swatting Yarbrough’s changeup which was flat and bereft of movement. They got to Yarbrough early with an RBI base hit from Joey Gallo in the first inning, followed by back-to-back RBI doubles by Nick Solak and Charlie Culberson in the fourth, and an RBI single by Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the sixth. The poor performance was the second in a row for the left-hander, who now owns a 6.48 ERA.
Gerrit Cole allowed one run on three hits and a walk over six innings on Monday. He struck out eight. Toronto strung together a couple of hits in the first inning to squeeze across a run, yet Cole collected himself and was in full control the rest of the way. The right-hander fired 65 of 98 pitches for strikes (66% strike rate) and retired the final 15 batters he faced. Cole will take his 1.47 ERA and a dominant 9.67 K/BB through 18-1/3 innings into his next outing. Cole is 0-3 with a 4.07 ERA in seven career starts against Tampa Bay. Key Matchups: Yandy Diaz (5-12, HR, RBI), Manuel Margot (4-16, 2B, HR), Brett Phillips (1-1), Joey Wendle (3-11, 3B, 3 RBI)
You can read about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup and Noteworthiness are below.
Rays 4/18/21 Starting Lineup
- Díaz 1B
- Meadows LF
- Margot RF
- B. Lowe 2B
- Brosseau 3B
- Wendle SS
- Tsutsugo DH
- Zunino C
- Kiermaier CF
- Kittredge RHP
Noteworthiness
— Kevin Kiermaier (quad strain), who was activated from the Injured List right before Saturday’s contest, will make his first start after being on the shelf. To clear space on the roster for Kiermaier, the Rays optioned RHP Chris Mazza to the alternate site.
— From the lips (fingertips) of Neil Solondz to your ears (eye-balls), “among the active Rays, Randy Arozarena, Yandy Diaz, Kiermaier, Austin Meadows, and Mike Zunino have each homered once against Cole, who faced Tampa Bay three times last year in the regular season. The Rays won two of those meetings. Cole is pitching on an extra day’s rest for the second straight start, and he allowed just one run in the last outing.”