Another night, another 2-1 outcome between the Rays and the Royals. This time, however, Tampa Bay walked it off against Kansas City which allowed them to gain 1/2 game on the second-place Red Sox, whose game against the Yankees was postponed.
Tyler Glasnow got back to his dominant self, blanking the Royals across eight innings which matched his longest start of the season. The right-hander allowed just three singles, two walks, and struck out 11 on an efficient 102 pitches (12.75 pitchers per inning), of which he threw 65 for strikes (64% strike rate). It was the sixth time this season Glasnow collected double-digit strikeouts. He also finished his outing with a 49% whiff rate on the 51 swings from Royals’ hitters, per Statcast.
Meanwhile, Rays’ hitters left runners in scoring position in the second and third innings, although they finally scratched across a run in the fourth inning against Mike Minor. Mike Brosseau drew a free pass with one out; he ended the night with three walks. After Joey Wendle’s grounded out, moving Brosseau into second, Gator Mike Zunino’s drove in a run on an RBI base hit to left. It was his 22nd run batted in on the season, giving Tampa Bay a big-league leading 35 RBI from their catching platoon.
The Zunino single, however, was one of just three hits for Tampa Bay, with Manuel Margot collecting the other two.
Minor pitched threw the first five frames, with Greg Holland following in the sixth, Scott Barlow in the seventh, Josh Staumont in the eighth, and Jake Brentz in the ninth.
J.P. Feyereisen took over for Glasnow in the ninth, tasked with saving the game. He, however, allowed a game-tying homer to Andrew Benintendi. Regardless, Feyereisen locked it in after the long ball and retired the next six batters in order to give Tampa Bay a chance to win in the bottom of the 1oth.
Right-hander Tyler Zuber began the tenth inning for Kansas City with Kevin Kiermaier as the runner at second. Taylor Walls drove the first pitch he saw to deep center, which allowed Kiermaier to tag up and move into third.
With a runner at third and one out, Austin Meadows was intentionally walked to set up a double play, but Margot wanted nothing to do with inning ending contact, rather he wanted the game to end with a “W” right then and there. Margot singled through the right side, ending the game with the Rays’ second walk-off win of the season, and the first of his career.
The New What Next
Shane McClanahan (1-0, 4.03 ERA) will get the start in the series finale Thursday afternoon, pitching opposite of fellow Floridian, Brady Singer (2-3, 4.00 ERA).
Shane McClanahan allowed one earned run on four hits and two walks while striking out four across five innings Saturday against the Blue Jays. McClanahan allowed his only run to score in the first inning on a two-out double by Teoscar Hernandez. While the rookie has struggled with retiring batters with two outs, he got away with minimal damage Saturday. It was a good bounce-back performance from his last turn against the Mets in which he allowed four runs on a pair of homers. The 24-year-old has a 4.03 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP with a 10.5 K/9 across 22-1/3 innings this season.
Brady Singer allowed three runs on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts on Saturday across 6-1/3 innings against the Tiger. Singer was effective in his second consecutive quality start, although an RBI single by Harold Castro in the fifth inning cut the Royals’ lead to one run. The right-hander picked up his first win on April 24. He now maintains a 4.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, and 2.71 K/BB across 45 innings (nine starts) on the season. He has never faced the Rays. Singer relies primarily on a whiffy 94 mph sinker and an 85 mph slider with two-plane movement.
You can read about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup is below.
Rays 5/27/21 Starting Lineup
- Arozarena DH
- Lowe 2B
- Choi 1B
- Meadows LF
- Wendle 3B
- Walls SS
- Zunino C
- Kiermaier CF
- Phillips RF
- McClanahan LHP