Evan Longoria beats Melky Cabrera to the bag for the out at third base after Dioner Navarro of the Toronto Blue Jays grounded to third to end the top of the first inning. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)
Evan Longoria beats Melky Cabrera to the bag for the out at third base after Dioner Navarro of the Toronto Blue Jays grounded to third to end the top of the first inning. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)

Let me take you back to Thursday, July 23, 2009 — a day when Mark Buehrle threw a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays. In that game, Buehrle struck out six, and induced 11 ground-outs and 10 pop-outs. The Rays have owned Buehrle since that embarrassing, fateful day, posting a healthy .280 OBA/.327 OBP/.369 SLG/.695 OPS slash line, with a 6.67 ERA in five starts. Suffice it to say, you never know exactly what you’re going to get with the Blue Jays’ lefty on the mound. Unfortunately, Tampa Bay faced the former Buehrle Wednesday night, not the latter. The Rays slogged away from the Trop, having dropped their second consecutive game to Toronto, this time by a score of 3-0.

Buehrle was masterful, slashing 8.2 IP/4 H/0 R/1 BB/11 K and posting double digit strikeouts for only the second time in his career — his third third shutout against Tampa Bay in his 13 year tenure on the mound. What he lacked in velocity, (I wouldn’t call an 84 MPH fastball a power pitch by any stretch of the imagination) Buerhle made up for with pinpoint accuracy — working both sides of the plate, and freezing eight Rays (of the 11) on the inside corner. As Dewaye Staats noted in the post-game broadcast, Buerhle came into the Trop with a game plan, which he executed impressively.

Mark Buehrle was really working the edge of the plate last night.
Mark Buehrle was really working the edge of the plate last night, especially against righties.

As for Moore, moments of efficiency were peppered (a 12 pitch second, and a 10 pitch third) throughout his 5-2/3, 106 pitch outing — though those moments were the exceptions. Moore struggled with his command all night, getting into sticky situations in the first, fifth, and sixth innings. A credit to his name; Moore was able to work around those jams, though he was tagged with two runs in the fourth after leaving a cement mixer up and out over the plate. Jose Bautista sent that errant pitch to the Captain Morgan Party Deck. Jake McGee came on to finish the sixth for Moore, but not before Joe Maddon pulled the Rays starter in favor of Brandon Gomes, who intentionally walked Adam Lind to load the bases. Gomes was pulled in favor of McGee, who threw one pitch to Melky Cabrera, culminating in an inning ending pop-out.

Josh Lueke gave up Jose Bautista’s second home run in the seventh inning, Heath Bell put up a goose egg in the eighth, and Grant Balfour ran into trouble during a 21-pitch ninth. Bautista finished the night with two homers for his 22nd career multi-homer game.

The New What Next

The Tampa Bay Rays will try to salvage the Opening Series Thursday night, with their million dollar man, Chris Archer, on the mound. Archer will oppose Brandon Morrow for the Blue Jays. You can read about the pitching match-up in our series preview.

Rays 4/3/14 Starting Lineup

DeJesus DH
Jennings CF
Zobrist 2B
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Forsythe LF
Joyce RF
Hanigan C
Escobar SS
Archer RHP

Noteworthiness

  • Wil Myers has been scratched from the lineup due to flu-like symptoms. Matt Joyce will get the start in right, and Ligan Forsythe will move to left field.
  • The Rays have placed Sean Rodriguez on the paternity list, and recalled Vince Belnome from Triple-A Durham.
  • David DeJesus is back in the lineup, hitting leadoff.
  • Another day, another pair of terrific defensive plays at the hot corner by Evan Longoria. The first came in the third, (referenced in the caption above) while the second capped off the fourth. Missed them? Or, would you like to experience them again and again? Click the link!
  • Mr. Offense, Logan Forsythe, got the start against the Buehrle Wednesday night, tagging the lefty for two of the Rays’ four hits, including a leadoff double in the fifth inning.
  • After putting up nine runs on Opening Day, the Rays have now crossed the plate only twice in 18 innings. The Rays are 1-for-17 (.059) w/RISP last 2 games, 5-for-33 (.152) for the season.
  • C’mon everyone, get out to the ballpark! The Rays need to draw 9,122 on Thursday for their three-day total to exceed Monday’s sellout of 31,042.
  • More on Archer’s newly minted contract extension… Archer will receive a $1MM signing bonus and salaries of $500K in 2014, $1MM in 2015, $2.75MM in 2016, $4.75MM in 2017, $6.25MM in 2018, and $7.5MM in 2019 with a $1.75MM buyout of his 2020 option.

 

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