The Tampa Bay Rays entered The Trop yesterday afternoon, having not won a game against the Baltimore Orioles. Yet they walked out of Tropicana Field with a huge win under their belts, thanks to the second consecutive day of eighth inning, pinch hit heroics by Jerry Sands. The skinny; with the game tied at three runs apiece, Sands crushed a 2-0 pitch, giving the Rays a lead they’d never relinquish. Tampa Bay took the first game of the series by a score of 5-4, picking up its fourth win in five games. It certainly wasn’t a perfect win, but my oh my… Watching the Rays has become fun once again.
Tampa Bay took the lead following a relatively uneventful 1-2-3 first inning. To be fair, there was a bit of tension in the 10-pitch Manny Machado at-bat which culminated in a strikeout. Yunel Escobar got things started early, sending a laser shot to section 143. The extra batting practice before the game paid off, Escobar absolutely destroyed a 2-1, 92 MPH fastball, giving the Rays an early 1-0 lead.
Evan Longoria followed with a hard hit fly ball to deep center. What looked to be a homer off the bat found the deepest part of the park, falling a few feet shy of the wall. Longo ended up with a double, though he was stranded on second after a Ben Zobrist strikeout, and a James Loney foul out.
In the second inning, JJ Hardy singled and David Lough drew an 11 pitch walk with two outs, but Odorizzi got Ryan Flaherty swinging to end any threat. Then in the third, the Rays and O’s essentially mirrored one another, when both Chen and Odorizzi walked a runner, but stranded him on the base paths. In the case of the O’s, Nick Markakis drew a four-pitch walk, while Longo took the free pass on the side of Tampa Bay.
The Rays finally struck again in the fourth, after Odorizzi sat Baltimore down in order. James Loney led off the inning by doubling up the left-field line. Sean Rodriguez followed, laying down a beauty of a sac-bunt, and moving Loney to third with one out. Yet Logan Forsythe (who was 1-1 on the night by this point) hit into an unproductive out — sending a ball to shallow center which wasn’t deep enough to allow Loney to tag up and score. Yet Ryan Hanigan stepped into the box and delivered, giving the Rays a 3-0 lead on a two-run, no doubter to left.
History almost repeated itself in the fifth. Odorizzi mowed Baltimore down in order, while Jennings led off the inning with ground rule double to left. Yet Chen, doing his best Odorizzi impression, plowed through the heart of the Rays’ order, tossing seven consecutive strikes and ending the threat.
Tampa Bay held the shutout until the sixth when the Orioles struck back. After retiring eight consecutive batters, Odorizzi allowed a double to Nick Markakis. Two hitters later, the Rays righty tossed a center-center fastball to Adam Jones, and he crushed it — bringing Baltimore within one. Maddon pulled Odorizzi in favor of Brad Boxberger, after he tossed a respectable 5-1/3 innings of ball, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks. Boxberger put down both Chris Davis and Nelson Cruz, effectively cauterizing the wound.
The seventh inning was Joel Peralta’s. He would, as Brett Phillips of DRaysBay put it, “Provide some self-induced high-leverage innings that only Joel Peralta can give.” Peralta quickly gave up a leadoff hit to Hardy, and he moved to second on a David Lough sac-bunt. But Peralta buckled down and struck out the next two hitters (Ryan Flaherty and Caleb Joseph) to end the inning.
Grant Balfour, as he’s been wont to do this season, allowed the one-run lead to evaporate in the eighth, after he promptly gave up back-to-back singles. Maddon had seen enough, and called on de facto closer, Jack McGee to clean up the mess. Unfortunately McGee walked Chris Davis to load the bases, which brought Nelson Cruz to the plate. Cruz followed a high chopper off the plate (a mere inches away from being a foul ball) which, by the time Longoria fielded it, found all the runners safe on their respective bases — including home. With the game knotted at three, McGee buckled down, following with a strike out of Hardy and coaxing an inning ending ground-ball to short out of Steve Pearce.
Fortunately the tie lasted less than an inning. Evan Longoria led off the Rays half of the eighth with a walk, yet Darren O’Day responded by putting Ben Zobrist and Loney down — the balloon, that is the Rays, seemed to deflate a bit. Up against the wall, Joe Maddon called upon David Dejesus to pinch hit for Saen Rodriguez, which led to Buck Showalter to pull O’Day in favor of Brian Matusz. Then Maddon, forced to play the odds, called upon Jerry Sands to pinch hit for the pinch hitter. The move made sense on paper — Matusz has been tough against lefties but is weak against righties. Jerry Sands responded, crushing a 2-0, 91 MPH fastball over the foul pole.
Your guess is as good as mine, as to how it stayed fair! I suppose the old saying, “A game of inches” would be apropos.
In the top of the ninth, Juan-Carlos Oviedo came into the game to close out the game. And despite the solo shot he gave up to Delmon Young, Oviedo retired everyone else. Rays win! Rays win! Rays win!
The New What Next
Erik Bedard will try to bounce back from a rough outing last Friday, when he takes the mound against Miguel Gonzalez and the Orioles tonight. Over the course of the last three seasons, the Rays have fared well against Gonzalez, handing the Orioles RHP a 2-3 record (in eight appearances) with a 3.94 ERA. Despite that, Gonzalez blanked the Rays over five innings in April, relinquishing only three hits along the way. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 6/17/14 Starting Lineup
Jennings CF
Joyce RF
Longoria DH
Loney 1B
Zobrist 2B
DeJesus LF
Escobar SS
Molina C
Rodriguez 3B
Bedard LHP
Noteworthiness
- Don’t look now, but the Rays have almost improved to a .400 WP, and boast a 30-41 (.425) Pythagorean Expectation — two games better than their W/L may indicate.
- Evan Longoria will get a little time off his feet tonight, hitting third as the DH. Rodriguez will get the start at third, hitting ninth.
- Jośe Molina and Matt Joyce were the recipients of early batting practice today, with Joe Maddon joining Derek Shelton once more. Escobar came back for more as well.
- Jeremy Hellickson is slated to pitch in Durham Tuesday night, making his third of three scheduled rehab starts. However, he may pitch one additional game before returning to the team. With one more start, Helly could rejoin the Rays in Baltimore, on June 27th for their day-night doubleheader.
- Your tweets of the day:
Consecutive days of go-ahead hits for Jerry Sands. #Dejavu pic.twitter.com/TtgoUtJKNN
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) June 17, 2014
Per @EliasSports: Sands is first AL player with pinch-hit, game-winning RBI in consecutive team games since Oakland’s Harold Baines, Sep ’90
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) June 17, 2014