Though not as dominant at Nate Karns three days prior, Alex Colome blanked the Yankees over 6-2/3 innings of work. (Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays)
Though not as dominant at Nate Karns three days prior, Alex Colome blanked the Yankees over 6-2/3 innings of work. (Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays)

What a goddamn weird game.

Alex Colome got himself into seven full counts, although he only walked one Yankee. Meanwhile the Rays only had two hits from the first through eighth innings, yet they ended the night by slapping three singles and taking a walk in the ninth — good for their sixth walk-off win of the season. And as if things weren’t odd enough, the double shutout, which lasted two outs into the ninth, took three hours and 28 minutes.

Ben Zobrist came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded, and subsequently ended the game by dropping a belt high, center-center fastball in front of Ichiro, plating Logan Forsythe from third.

In any case, a win is a win, and the Rays are going to need eight more of those to end the season with a plus .500 record. They are now 6-4 in their last 10 games, and they are capable of ending the year on a high note. The question is, will they?

Below are a few game peripherals and observations.

— Colome was good, not great. A little more than a year ago Ian Malinowski wrote of Alex Colome in his Pitch F/X scouting report,

In total, it’s easy to see why Colome has the reputation as an inconsistent pitcher. He doesn’t replicate his pitches all that well, but each one of his pitches is beautiful. He’s an athletic pitcher, and his control has improved over his early minors work. He has the repertoire (pending adding in the curve) of a frontline starter, and the only question is whether he’ll be able to improve his command and control enough to fulfill that heady potential.

I’d say the assessment above held true for Colome, Monday night. While he was able to coax his fair share of weak pop-outs, and work through any self incurred jams, Colome lacked fastball command throughout the course of his 6-2/3 inning outing (as evidenced by seven full counts). He had an especially hard time against left handed hitters, leaving a good number of fastballs high and well outside of the zone.

Alex Colome strike zone plot against righties and lefties. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)
Alex Colome strike zone plot against righties and lefties. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)

BA made mention of Colome’s mechanics on the broadcast, noting two things effected his command throughout the course of the game: how he landed on his plant foot — landing on his heel with a torquing motion, rather than landing on the ball of his foot — and his release. Colome, in effect, whipped his arm upon release which caused him to yank his pitches. Still, you can’t argue with the results. And to his credit he was rarely rattled while exhibiting great confidence and poise on the mound. Colome’s final line: 6.2 IP/6 H/0 ER/1 BB/4 K 113 pitches (68 strikes, 60% K%)

— With the exception of a leadoff walk in the ninth inning by Joel Peralta, the Rays bullpen was dominant and exceptional. Steve Geltz, Jeff Beliveau, Kirby Yates, and Peralta combined retire seven out of the eight batters they faced. The bullpen locked it down, something we haven’t been able to say in some time.

— Your guess is as good as mine, as to how the Rays could tag Chris Capuano for eight earned runs in his previous seven innings of work, only to be held to zero runs on two hits in six innings of work, last night.

— You make the judgement call; Was Capuano stellar, or did the Rays make the Yankees starter look really good?

The New What Next

Whoopdee-freaking-doo, the Rays are going to celebrate Derek Jeter Tuesday night, before the game. I’d hate to miss out by arriving late. Jake Odorizzi will get the start against Michael Pineda and the New York Yankees. If we learned anything about Micahel Pineda (3-4, 2.20 ERA) in his previous start against the Rays, it’s that he pounds the zone. But despite the 5-4 loss, the Rays were able to tag him for four runs on 10 hits, including a pair of homers off the bat of Yunel Escobar. Still, they went 2-10 wRISP while stranding six on the bags. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 9/15/14 Starting Lineup

Zobrist LF
DeJesus DH
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Franklin 2B
Joyce RF
Escobar SS
Kiermaier CF
Hanigan C
Odorizzi RHP

Noteworthiness

  • Jake Odorizzi goes into tonight’s start seven strikeouts short of the team rookie record of 175, held by Matt Moore.
  • Before tonight’s walk-off, Ben Zobrist was 0-for-11 with bases loaded this season, and 1-for-his-last-20.
  • The Rays MLB leading 21 shutouts are the most by an AL team in the DH era (since 1973). The lsat AL team with more was the 1972 Athletics at 23.
  • Chase Headley was ejected by home plate umpire Marty Foster in the middle of his at-bat. The reason? Arguing balls and strikes on a perfectly located pitch on the outside corner, at the bottom of the zone.
  • Andrew Astleford writes, “The rest of this Tampa Bay Rays season has become about polishing talent for the future. Attention has shifted from the American League East standings and the ”games behind” column in the race for the AL’s second wild-card spot. It has turned to finding gems within the transactions list, to studying the names promoted and considering where they can go.”

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