Take two. The Rays and Orioles will throw Jake Odorizzi and Miguel Gonzalez (respectively) on the mound Wednesday, following Tuesday's rainout. (Photo courtesy of Marc Topkin)
Take two. The Rays and Orioles will throw Jake Odorizzi and Miguel Gonzalez (respectively) on the mound Wednesday, following Tuesday’s rainout. (Photo courtesy of Marc Topkin)

Perhaps you could blame it on his inability to throw quality strikes. Or, maybe you could blame it his lack of command, leaving fastball after fastball up, and over the plate, in very hittable locations. Then again, it could have been his seeming inability to keep batters off balance by not throwing his change-up often. I’d argue it was choice D, all of the above. Whatever the case, Chris Archer did the Rays no favors Monday night, tossing the Orioles hitters meatball after meatball in his less than stellar 5 IP/12 H/7 R outing. The Rays fell to the Orioles — a team who hit five doubles off Archer — by a score of 7-1. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then surely the graph and chart below, sum up the game better than I could ever wish to.

Uhh… (Courtesy of Fangraphs)
Uhh… (Courtesy of Fangraphs)
Chris Archer's At-Bat Outcome Chart. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)
Chris Archer’s At-Bat Outcome Chart. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)

Hey, look at the bright side: Brad Boxberger looked absolutely filthy in his one inning of work. He used all of 10 pitches (seven strikes) to shut down the Orioles in a 1-2-3 sixth inning. Boxberger was impressive, especially in his at-bat against Nelson Cruz. The righty attacked the Orioles slugger in the upper and outer reaches of the zone. Boxberger ultimately struck out Cruz (swinging) on a fastball at the top of the zone. His four pitch at-bat was the icing on an efficient 10 pitch (seven strikes) cake…urm, outing. And lest we forget Josh Lueke who, in redeeming fashion, tossed two innings of one hit/one strikeout ball on 14 pitches (11 strikes).

Ben Zobrist and James Loney were the lead actors in a movie that I like to call the Rays Offense. Zobrist has now hit safely in six of seven games. He came around to score the lone run on an Evan Longoria base hit. Loney went 2-for-4 and hit the ball hard all night.

Concerns?

Why would a .178 BA hitter bat in the DH spot? Why would Brandon Guyer get the start in left field, based solely on the premise that two of his three career home runs have come in Baltimore — even though neither came off Wei-Yin Chen?

Logan Forsythe, Wil Myers, Yunel Escobar, and Ryan Hanigan looked clueless at the plate, combining to go 0-11 with one walk.

And what was going on in the outfield Monday night? Between Guyer and Jennings, I’m convinced there was an ongoing series of banana peels being thrown onto the field. Moving forward.

The New What Next

Take two. The Rays and Orioles will throw Jake Odorizzi and Miguel Gonzalez (respectively) on the mound Wednesday, following Tuesday’s rainout. David Price, who was scheduled to start Wednesday, will now get the start Thursday against the Yankees. You can read about Wednesday’s pitching match-up in our series preview.

Rays 4/16/14 Starting Lineup

Zobrist 2B
Myers RF
Joyce DH
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Jennings CF
DeJesus LF
Escobar SS
Molina C
Odorizzi RHP

Noteworthiness

  • Matt Moore Opts For Surgery

We learned late Monday night that Matt Moore has opted to receive Tommy John Surgery on April 22nd, in St. Petersburg. He is projected to be sidelined for 11-15 months. “The discomfort he (Matt Moore) felt during an afternoon throwing session made it clear he could not pitch with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament,” writes Marc Topkin.

Moore went on to say,

“What was coming out, it’s a shame to have to be shut down right now, but it just wasn’t comfortable. Being stuck in the position I am right now, where it’s not exactly comfortable but it’s not exactly completely broke, it’s kind of one of those things that you know it’s going to get worse. If we had to have our best guess, that was what we would say — it’s going to get worse.”

Moore felt left elbow discomfort last week, though he initially assumed he would be able to pitch through it following a regimen of rest and rehab. But MRI exams a partial tear of the ligament, while Monday’s throwing session (on flat ground) made it clear he needed to have the surgery — and soon — to minimize the number of games he would miss in the 2015 season.

Moore joins the ranks of 12 other major-league pitchers to have the ligament replacement surgery since the start of Spring Training.

  • Where to Go with the Rotation Now

On the subject of whether the Rays would be interested in re-signing Jeff Niemann, GM Andrew Friedman said they would most likely look within the organization when filling out the rotation staff. That being said the re-signing of Niemann, or a trade for someone like Barry Zito, probably isn’t in the cards. Friedman went on to say they’re still confident of a strong season, and will get though injuries…that, “its an all hands on deck approach right now.”

  • Resetting the Rotation Following Tuesday’s Rainout

The Rays may reset the order following the rainout Tuesday, with the possibility of splitting the lefties Erik Bedard and Cesar Ramos — who’s getting one more start before Maddon makes up his mind regarding the need to call up a pitcher from Triple-A Durham — with Chris Archer getting the start on Saturday.

 

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