Just a day removed from the Rays’ come from behind victory against the Bronx Bombers Friday, Tampa Bay absolutely destroyed the Yankees Saturday night, handing Derek Jeter and company a crushing 16-1 loss — a score worthy of a football game. The Rays will walk into the series finale Sunday, having scored 29 runs in three-games — more than they scored in the previous 11 games combined. The 16 runs matched the club’s most since April 4, 2011 in Boston, and are the second most at home in franchise history (17 vs Baltimore, Sep 5, 2007). Wil Myers (3-4, 4 R, 4 RBI) and Ryan Hanigan (3-4, 2 R, 6 RBI) each homered twice, while Evan Longoria smacked career homer number 164. Longo now owns the franchise record for home runs. Archer was credited the win (2-1) while Ivan Nova, who gave up eight earned runs, was charged with the loss. Nova left the game in the fifth inning with what was reported as a partial tear of ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He’ll be placed on the DL Sunday.
Myers got the Rays’ offense started early with a solo no-doubter to left (his first homerun of 2014) off a hanging curveball from Nova in the second inning. Hanigan followed suit in the third, cranking a leadoff homer down the left field line. Ben “Mr. Dependable” Zobrist hit a one out, opposite field, single to left, and was subsequently brought home by Evan Longoria on a two out home run off another poorly located Nova curveball. His blast hit the C Ring in the outfield.
The Rays were not done with the Yankees. Myers drew a leadoff walk, and was driven home on Hanigan’s second homer of the evening — another pulled shot to left, giving the Rays a six run advantage. The four home runs relinquished by Nova were a career high for an outing.
Though the Yankees got on the board in the top of the fifth inning, the Rays more than answered for their run. Former Ray Kelly Johnson drove Alfonso Soriano home on a hard hit double to left center. Soriano initially reached base on an infield single.
Zobrist led off the bottom of the fifth with a single against the Yankees’ shift, and was moved to third on a Matt Joyce opposite field double. Nova left the game in the following at bat after a 1-1 pitch to Longoria. That he shook his right arm several times after throwing the pitch, was enough to prompt the removal of Nova in favor of Matt Daley. Of note, Daley replaced Cesar Cabral on the Yankees’ roster after Friday night’s three HBP fiasco. Longoria welcomed Daley with a Zobrist plating sac-fly to right. With one out and a runner at second, the Yankees intentionally walked James Loney, bringing Myers to the plate. Myers promptly ripped a three-run laser shot off a poorly located fastball, giving the Rays a 10-1 lead. The Rays still weren’t done.
Longoria drove in Zobrist on a single in the sixth, giving Longoria eight consecutive multi-hit games against the Yankees. He also has a 12 game hitting streak against the Bronx Bummers. Loney followed with an RBI double to right, scoring Matt Joyce and moving Longo to third. Daley was pulled in favor of Dellin Betances who struck out Myers for the second out of the inning. They were a hairs width away from ending the inning, if not for a Yangervis Solarte error that allowed Longoria to score. Betances responded with two consecutive walks (Yunel Escobar and Hanigan), scoring Loney.
The Rays added two more runs on a Hanigan single in the bottom of the eighth, with shortstop Dean Anna on the mound. Watching Anna throw what amounted to batting practice quality pitches was amusing at best. It bears mentioning: Anna topped out at 72 MPH, with most of his pitches ranging in the 55-60 MPH range.
Chris Archer was on point Saturday night, improving to 2-1 on the season. Archer cruised through the first four innings of the game– facing the minimum number of batters, while throwing just 50 pitches. Though he was touched for a run in the top of the fifth, Archer limited the damage and put together a solid 6.2 IP/3 H/1 ER/0 BB/4 K on 94 pitches (61 strikes, 65% K/BB) outing. I really liked that Archer wasn’t afraid of pitching to contact. Archer induced weak contact, for the most part, which the Rays fielders gobbled up.
CJ Riefenhauser, made his major league debut in the top of the seventh inning, impressively needing only 12 pitches (10 strikes) to get four outs in his 1-1/3 innings of work. Josh Lueke finished the game for the Rays, striking out two in the top of the ninth.
Cherish these moments. Do I think this is who the Rays are, offensively speaking? Absolutely not. However, they are better than the team that scored only 27 runs in the previous 11-games. They’re somewhere in between. In the end, it’s been incredibly exciting to watch the players who need to be productive, and in synch with one another, begin to heat up at the plate.
The New What Next
Cesar Ramos could be making his final start of the season, depending on how well he performs against Vidal Nuno and the Yankees. The Rays have had success against Nuno in the past, slashing .294 BA/.333 OBP/.471 SLG/.804 OPS in six innings of work. Ramos will look to keep the Rays in the game, while Tampa Bay will look to hit Nuno hard early on. If the Rays can knock Nuno out of the game early, they will get to face a tired Yankee bullpen which they’ve had success against the past few days.
Rays 4/20/14 Starting Lineup
Rodriguez LF
Zobrist DH
Forsythe 2B
Longoria 3B
Myers RF
Loney 1B
Guyer CF
Escobar SS
Hanigan C
Ramos LHP
Noteworthiness
- Zobrist will get a day off, of sorts, Sunday. He’ll take on the DH role, hitting second, while Logan Forsythe gets the start at second, hitting third.
- Myers has gone 6-for-9, with 9 RBI, and 2 HR since Friday.
- With their recent offensive outburst, the Rays’ pythagorean record went from 7-10 to 10-8.
- Per a Marc Topkin tweet, Jeremy Hellickson said felt good playing catch Sunday after a week off. In his previous throwing session, Hellickson felt soreness from throwing curveballs. He said the setback would only be a few days.
- Desmond Jennings is set to test his groin today by running. He mentioned it’s feeling better, and said theres on fear or concern he’ll spend time on the DL.