Trust me, I had the best of intentions. See, I really wanted to recap the Rays’ 14-inning, 10-5 win, but between going to bed at two in the morning, and this pounding headache I’ve had for the better part of the last two days, it’s easier to focus on the game peripherals. It also doesn’t help that I imbibed throughout the five-hour and forty-nine minute contest. It is what it is. Daniel Russell of DRaysBay put together an incredibly thorough recap of last nights/this morning’s game. Accompany that with Fangraphs’ interactive play-log for the multi-media experience of a lifetime. Game peripherals are below.
- With the outcome of Vidal Nuno’s last outing against Tampa Bay fresh in his mind, Joe Maddon put together a somewhat righty-heavy lineup, starting Sean Rodriguez in left field and Logan Forsythe at designated hitter, but (as opposed to last time) keeping James Loney in the game. His decision panned out well. The tandem of Rodriguez, Forsythe, and Loney combined to go 6-11 with two runs and three RBI.
- With a career 4.00+ ERA in New York, David Price hasn’t quite performed at his highest level when taking on the Yankees in their Mall of America-like facility. The Rays’ ace looked good to start the game, putting up an eight pitch first, though he’d need twenty or more pitches to escape the second, third, and fourth innings. Heading into the series, Tampa Bay’s starters pitched more than five innings in only four of the last seventeen games. Coming off a double-header that used Jake McGee and Grant Balfour twice in the same day, the Rays needed Price to eat innings — and eat innings he did. Over the span of his 7 IP/8 H/2 ER outing, David Price challenged hitters with pitches in the zone, throwing 118 pitches (79 strikes, 67% K%) and impressively walking none, while wringing up eight Yankees — all of them swinging.
- Unfortunately for the the overtaxed pen, a break they would not get. The Rays took the lead in the fourth, but gave it up in the eighth. They both regained and blew the lead it in the ninth, then white-knuckled it until the 14th when they slammed the door shut on Chris Leroux and the Yankees.
- Tasked with eating innings, Heath Bell fought to hold the score even from the 11th through the 13th. Bell battled through high leverage situations in three consecutive innings, but he somehow battened down the hatches. (Read below)
- With Bell on the mound in the 12th inning, Carlos Beltran hit a tapper up the middle. Derek Jeter worked his way into a run-down after the out at first, in an attempt to move Jacoby Ellsbury up. Jeter ran back and forth no less than six times before Ben Zobrist fired the ball to third. Ellsbury got caught by Ryan Hanigan, and Jeter exhaustedly worked his way to third. It was scored as a 4-3-3-6-3-4-3-4-5-2 double play.
- The Rays put up another nerve wracking inning in the 13th. It had everything you could imagine: a botched rundown, a five man infield defense, an intentional walk to load the bases for Jeter, and an inning ending comebacker. With two on and no outs, Yangervis Solarte hit a ball to first for another run down — queue the Benny Hill theme music. Worried about the runner crossing third, Ben Zobrist wasn’t able to get Brian McCann running toward second. With two men in scoring position and one out, acting manager Davey Martinez (Maddon was tossed in the 12th) brought in Wil Myers for a five man infield in anticipation of a ground ball, with Brett Gardner coming to the plate. A risky move? Possibly. Then again, Gardner has a 65% ground ball percentage, and the odds were good he’d keep the ball on the ground. Martinez guessed wisely. Gardner hit the ball up the middle, right to Sean Rodrodriguez who fielded the play and threw to Myers at first base for the second out. The Rays took no chances with Ellsbury at the plate, and walked him to load the bases. With the bases juiced, Derek Jeter, hit a tapper to Bell, and the Rays escaped. The Yankees had 18 hits on the night, yet they went 1-13 wRISP, stranding 12.
- The Rays reclaimed the lead in a five run 14th. Desmond Jennings reached base on a leadoff walk, then swiped second to get into scoring position. Wil Myers singled up the middle, scoring DesJen from second. Jennings’ stolen base proved valuable. Rodriguez was next, driving in Myers from first on a double up the left field line. Brandon Guyer joined in on the fun, plating SeanRod from second on another base hit. Then Yunel Escobar put the Rays up by four on an RBI base hit up the middle, scoring Guyer from second, while Hanigan continued the BP session by driving in a run on the sixth consecutive hit of the inning, giving the Rays a commanding 10-5 lead.
- Make that 10 runs on 20 hits, in 14 innings. At 7-18 wRISP, the Rays batted .388 when they needed it the most.
The New What Next
Tampa Bay needs as much momentum as they can get their proverbial hands upon ahead of today’s challenge. The Rays will face Masahiro Tanaka for the first time, which will not be an easy task. His splitter and slider are ridiculous, and Tanaka boasts an 11.61 K/9, and an impressive 38%-39% whiff rate when throwing the slider. Pair that with their seeming inability to hit pitchers they’ve never seen, as well as today’s starter Jake Odorizzi who has all of one quality outing under his belt, in five starts. You can read about today’s match-up, and so much more, in our series preview.
Rays 5/3/14 Starting Lineup
Zobrist SS
Jennings DH
Joyce LF
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Myers RF
DeJesus CF
Rodriguez 2B
Hanigan C
Odorizzi RHP
Noteworthiness
- Wil Myers has hit in all 11 games he’s played at Yankee Stadium, tying Steve Kemp for longest streak to begin a career at either the old or new stadium.
- No roster moves have been made to bolster the bullpen.
- Make that three wins in 32 innings, in 36 hours, and in two different cities. No one said this season was going to be boring, that’s for sure.
- The second coming of Lobaton?
- Hear, hear:
If you’re a Rays fan u have to be proud. As a manager, these last 2 days tell you a lot about your players. I believe it’s been galvanizing.
— Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) May 3, 2014