Ryan Yarbrough — the southpaw hurler recalled from Durham in Yonny Chirinos’ absence — posted five innings of one-hit, shutout ball on Friday night, as the Tampa Bay Rays began a three-game series with a 6–2 win over the Blue Jays. It was the team’s fifth consecutive home win.
The Blue Jays took the initial lead four batters into the ballgame against Andrew Kittredge, who was announced as the starter on Thursday. Curtis Granderson led off the game with a hustle double to left-center ahead of Josh Donaldson, who walked. Yangervis Solarte hit a deep fly to the warning track right, allowing Granderson to move up to third. The left-fielder inevitably came home on Teoscar Hernandez’s sacrifice-fly to center.
Granderson, however, was pulled from the game as a precaution with right hamstring tightness, and replaced with Dalton Pompey.
One lone run would be all that Kittredge would allow over his two innings of work, setting the table for Yarbrough in the top of the third inning.
Meanwhile, the Rays got on the board in the third inning against J.A. Happ. Johnny Field hit a two-out, line drive homer to left — his second big league homer, and first at home.
💣 2-0 count
💣 Fastball
💣 Inner half pic.twitter.com/b7nflxWdz5— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 5, 2018
It was also the team’s first extra base hit since the ninth inning of Monday night’s ball game against Detroit (a span of 23 innings).
Yarbrough kicked off his outing by allowing a hit to his first batter, Pompey, but retired his next 15 hitters in order — moving the ball around the zone along the way. Yarbrough fanned four, threw 40 of 58 pitches for strikes (69% strike ratio) and needed just under 12 pitches per inning to get the job done. If this was an audition to replace Yonny Chirinos in the fourth starter role on a regular basis, Yarbrough did exceedingly well.
I know after I got done, a couple of guys were like, ‘Man, you were working really fast out there,’ said Yarbrough, who tossed 40 of his 58 pitches for strikes.
I was really just trying to get the ball and get back after it, stay aggressive, and just keep ’em off balance by throwing some cutters in. And when they started looking for it, mixing some stuff away.
Do you even Yarbrough? pic.twitter.com/xtyUmTATDW
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 5, 2018
Tampa Bay moved ahead for good in the fourth inning, and the go ahead rally started with a lead-off walk by C.J. Cron against Happ, his second free pass of the game. Matt Duffy followed, rolling a single to center before Wilson Ramos ripped a line drive base hit to right-center, plating Cron and moving Duffy to third. The hit extended Ramos’ hit streak to 12 games, two shy of the franchise record for a Rays backstop (Toby Hall, 14, 2001). Two batters later, Duffy came home when Toronto couldn’t turn Denard Span’s grounder into a double play, putting the Rays up by a pair.
Happ had to be bailed out of a bases-loaded jam by Jake Petricka in the sixth, after he gave up a one-out single to Duffy, walked Daniel Robertson on four pitches, and then allowed another free pass to Denard Span. Petricka coaxed a fly-ball out to left to end the threat.
The Rays were able to tack on another run in the seventh, much to the chagrin of Jays’ skipper John Gibbons. Field doubled off the wall in right with one out — his second hit of the night — before Adeiny Hechavarria singled to left, scoring Field for a three-run advantage.
Sergio Romo took over in the eighth, and quickly worked over former Ray Luke Maile on four pitches. However, the soft tossing right-hander left a fastball over the heart of the zone, on the very next pitch, which Aledmys Dias deposited into the left-field seats. Romo settled down and ended the inning on a high note, fanning Pompey and coaxing a fly-ball out from Donaldson.
Brad Miller, clearly uncomfortable with just a two-run lead, hit a no doubt, two-run blast to left in the bottom of the inning off fellow southpaw Tim Mayza for a four-run lead.
Insurance! pic.twitter.com/J6sXAD7qWW
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 5, 2018
Finally, Alex Colome worked an impressive ninth — albeit one that was dragon bit by the catwalks — to close out the game with a win. When asked why he turned to Colome with a four-run lead, Rays manager Kevin Cash said he wanted to give Colome some work.
I don’t wanna go five, six or seven days without him pitching. With the way his first month has gone, he’ll benefit from some consistent work.
The New What Next
The Rays and Toronto play the second of three games on Saturday. Jake Faria (2–1, 4.60 ERA) will get the start opposite of right-hander Aaron Sanchez (2–2, 4.06 ERA).
Jake Faria became the first Tampa Bay hurler to pitch eight full innings in a ball game since Alex Cobb in July of 2017. After a first inning walk of the number two hitter, Jeimer Candelario, the right-hander coaxed a ground ball double play and went to work. Faria was sharp over the balance of his start, mixing fastballs and off speed stuff, while limiting deep counts, and maintaining a quick pace. The right-hander blanked the Tigers and allowed just three hits and one walk. He fanned six, relying heavily on his four-seam fastball to set up his splitter, which he got most his whiffs on.
Aaron Sanchez allowed four runs on six hits and three walks with two strikeouts over six innings on Monday against the Twins. It was the first time in five starts that Sanchez failed to record a quality start, although his offense bailed him out with six runs in the first five innings. The ground baller added another 10 to his total, but his control wasn’t there and he threw just 55 strikes in 93 pitches (59% strike ratio), walked three batters, and hit another. Sanchez’s 4.06 ERA is due in large part to a 4.3 BB/9, not to mention that he also has now hit six batters. This season he has relied primarily on a 94 mph sinker with obvious tailing action, a hard 89 mph changeup with arm-side fade, and a whiffy 94 mph four-seam fastball, while also mixing in a 79 mph curveball with downward bite and glove-side movement. Key Matchups: Mallex Smith (1-1, 2 BB), Jesus Sucre (2-3, 2B)
You can read about the series in our preview.
Rays 5/5/18 Starting Lineup
Noteworthiness
— Johnny Field had three extra-base hits (two doubles and a homer) and Matt Duffy had three hits in the Rays 10-hit attack.
— Yarbrough is likely to get the nod on Wednesday against Atlanta.
— Let it be said and known:
Let’s be honest, Pillar did use a rather unsavory homophobic slur last season, so we all know he’s kind of an asshole to begin with.