Ladies and gentlemen, the quality start machine that is Jacob Faria. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The Tampa Bay Rays squandered an early two-run lead, yet rallied in the 10th inning when Steven Souza Jr. hit a three-run homer against Darren O’Day to put them up by three. Alex Colome bent, but didn’t break, to close out the game, as the Rays beat the Orioles, 6-4.


How about this for Toad’s wild ride? Source: FanGraphs

The Rays built a two-run lead against Chris Tillman in the second inning, thanks to Wilson “the Buffalo” Ramos, who sent a spinner, that caught too much of the plate, to deep centerfield — his first home run as a Ray.

The long-ball followed Steven Souza Junior’s single to left.

But Baltimore got on the board in the third inning, taking advantage of a rare error by Adeiny Hechavarria. Wellington Castillo led off the rally when he hit a screamer off the right hand of Hechavarria. Two batters later, Castillo scored on a double to left-center by Joey Rickard, making it a one run game.

Tillman was much better than he had been all season until the sixth inning, when the Rays found themselves with an excellent opportunity to blow the game open. Both Evan Longoria and Logan Morrison hit singles, and Souza walked to load the bases with none out.

With the specter of the Buffalo looming on deck, Orioles skipper Buck Showalter called upon the hard throwing Miguel Castro to take over, lifting Tillman. Ramos worked a favorable 3-1 count before he grounded into a 5–2–3 double play. Then, with a pair of runners now in scoring position, Tim Beckham struck out to end the threat.

Given new life, Baltimore did what they should have, and immediately answered when Rickard homered to left on a 2–1 pitch off Faria, tying the game at two. The Orioles took the lead in the seventh.

Adam Jones lead off the frame with a double to right, then ended up at third on a throwing error by Souza. Mark Trumbo immediately singled to left, giving the Orioles their first lead of the game. After Faria coaxed a double play ball, ending his outing, Tommy Hunter entered in relief and got the final out of the seventh.

All told, the right-handed Faria gave up just four hits and two earned runs over 6-2/3 innings, while striking out six. It was his fifth consecutive quality start to begin his big league career.

Marc Topkin said it best in today’s edition of the Tampa Bay Times,

Rookie starter Jake Faria passed another test in his crash course on being part of a big-league rotation, handling the challenge of facing the same team in a second straight start, and the potent Orioles at that, in hitter-friendly Camden Yards.

Faria became just one of three pitchers since start of 2013 to begin his career with five straight quality starts; Mashiro Tanaka (2016) and Odrisamer Despaigne (2005) are the other two. He also leads MLB rookies with with 35 strikeouts and a 2.23 ERA, while his 7.00 K/BB ratio ranks third in American League behind Corey Kluber and Chris Sale.

Brad Boxberger made his first appearance of the season in the eighth inning, after being recalled from the DL. Boxy looked like the dominating Boxy of old, fanning the side on 13 pitches and looking really good along the way. He spotted his zippy fastball, which touched 95 mph on multiple occasions, and because of it, his changeup was all the more effective — with a good 12-16 mph of separation from the fastball.

(Credit: Brooks Baseball)

Equally as important, Boxberger spotted his pitches and threw them for strikes. Welcome back, Brad!

With the prospect of the Rays dropping their third consecutive game quickly emerging, they did something wholly unexpected against the Orioles A-bullpen — Tampa Bay tied the game in the ninth against Brad Brach, who hadn’t blown a save in over a month. Pinch-hitter Shane Peterson worked a two out walk, then went to second on a balk. Peter Bourjos entered the game to pinch-run for Peterson, although not that it really mattered, as he was wild pitched up to third. Hechavarria then became one of the heroes of the ball game when he hit an RBI single to left — his fourth hit of the night — tying the game.

Jumbo Diaz sent the game into extra innings after he pitched a perfect ninth…well, perfect on paper. Diaz got very lucky because he left two very hittable spinners over the heart of the plate to Johnathan Schoop — two glaring mistakes, as Ramos clearly called for the sliders to be in the dirt each time. Schoop got ahead of the first hanging slider, hooking it just foul down the left-field line, then just under the second slider, popping it up over the infield. Diaz caught a break, and the Rays took advantage by taking the lead in the 10th.

Against Darren O’Day, Corey Dickerson walked to start the frame, then advanced to second on Longoria’s groundout. After LoMo was intentionally walked, Souza belted a 3–2 pitch over the center-field wall, which was just the second homer O’Day has allowed this season.

The homer was of course ironic because the slugger has said before that he takes intentional walks in front of him personally.

Finally in the bottom of the 10th, Alex Colome — after allowing a leadoff homer to Mark Trumbo on the first pitch of the at-bat — closed out the game by notching his 21st save. It wasn’t easy, although nothing with El Coballo ever is. It, however, provided him with some reassurance that he was over whatever ailed him during three consecutive rough outings.

I think I’m back, Colome said after the game. I feel really good, I got my strike zone every time, my cutter was great.

The New What Next

The Rays will go for the series win Saturday afternoon when the face the Orioles in the second of the three games. Jake Odorizzi (4-3, 4.00 ERA, 5.48 FIP) will get the start, opposite of Dylan Bundy (8-6, 3.73 ERA, 4.75 FIP). Interestingly enough, today’s matchup features pitchers who have allowed homers in 10 and 11 consecutive games respectively. For his part, Odorizzi did some extensive work during his bullpen sessions to straighten out a mechanical flaw that had him falling toward first base when he delivered the pitch, which disrupted his line to home plate and led to inconsistencies in his delivery. It will be interesting to see if the extra work pays dividends.

You can read more about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 7/1/17 Starting Lineup

Smith CF
Dickerson DH
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Souza RF
Ramos C
Peterson LF
Hechavarria SS
Featherston 2B
Odorizzi RHP

Noteworthiness

— Rays skipper Kevin Cash has been chosen as a coach for the 2017 All-Star Game by AL manager, and good friend, Terry Francona.

— Tim Beckham, who tweaked his ankle during last night’s ball-game, isn’t in this afternoon’s lineup. Instead, Taylor Featherstone will take over at second base, hitting ninth in the lineup.

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