After an eight inning, 10-strikeout effort from David Price, Jake McGee came into the game in the ninth to tally his 10th save of the year. (Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays)
After an eight inning, 10-strikeout effort from David Price, Jake McGee came into the game in the ninth to tally his 10th save of the year. (Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays)

Going into last night’s contest, I thought if the Rays were going to drop any game in the series, it would be the one with Jon Lester on the mound. After all — prior to the first pitch — Lester put up insanely good numbers, to the tune of 0.23 ERA over the last 30-days. He also hadn’t lost a game to Tampa Bay in his last three starts. “As long as the Rays could walk away with the series,” I thought to myself, “they will still be in good shape.”  Much to my surprise — and Boston’s chagrin — Tampa Bay was able to tag Lester, Miller, and Tazawa for six runs en route to a big 6-4 win. The Rays start the day 7.5 games out of first in the East, 3.5 games behind the third place Blue Jays, and 4.5 out in the Wildcard race (just 1.0 behind the Indians). Per Fangraphs, they were also able to increase their playoff odds to 13.4%, decreasing Boston’s odds to 3.4% in the process. One game down, two more to go.

Source: FanGraphs

David Price started the game strongly, needing only 22 pitches to put down the first five batters in order (three strikeouts, two fly ball outs). My favorite moment of the game, up to this point, came when David Ortiz came to the plate for the first time. His name was announced to a chorus of very loud boos. Big Papi proceeded to go down looking at three perfectly located pitches.

Pitch number three. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)
Pitch number three. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)

But Price’s pristine start wouldn’t last. With two-outs and a 1-1 count in the second inning, Price served up a misplaced cutter out over the plate to Shane Victorino, which he consequently deposited into the left field stands. Undeterred, Price put down the next 11 of 13 batters — working around a pair of base hits, while wracking up three strikeouts (one swinging).

The wheels fell off for Price in sixth, after the Rays took a 2-1 lead. Dustin Pedroia hit a one out double to the left-center gap, instantly getting into scoring position. Big Poopi, urm…Papi followed with a full count, RBI single to right-center — knotting the game at two apiece. Price was able to coax a Mike Napoli fly ball out — coming within one out of minimizing the damage — but the Red Sox again took a one run lead after Jonny Gomes and Shane Victorino hit a pair of singles. The Massholes in attendance took the opportunity to get loud at this point, though their feelings of bliss would ultimately be fleeting.

Price settled down and put down six of the next seven Sox, ringing up four more in the process (three swinging). Price ended the night with a pretty good 8 IP/8 H/3 ER/0 BB/10 K 114 pitches (84 strikes, 74% K%) line, culling together his sixth consecutive win. Jake McGee came on in relief, and though he had a rough 2 H/1 ER ninth, he was able to tally his 10th save of the year — striking out one along the way.

On the offensive end of things, despite putting up threats in the front three innings, the Rays couldn’t crack Lester until the fifth when Desmond Jennings hit a two-run, 419 foot bomb to left center, on a 2-0 center-center cutter — his second career homer off Lester.

Previous to Jennings’ big fly, Ben Zobrist hit two infield singles. He followed Jennings with another infield single, and capped off a 4-4 night with an RBI base hit in the seventh. More on that in a moment. Brandon Guyer followed Jennings and Zobrist with a walk, bringing Evan Longoria to the plate with a runner in scoring position and two outs. Though he worked a seven pitch, full count at-bat, he flew out to shallow left to end the threat and the inning.

Though Boston’s ace was able to put together a 1-2-3 sixth on 13 pitches, Tampa Bay worked Lester over for 110 pitches in six innings — knocking him out of the game prior to the seventh, when the Rays would incur the bulk of their damage.

Andrew Miller started the seventh, though he wouldn’t make it past 1/3 of an inning. Miller quickly hit Jose Molina on the foot with a pitch, essentially giving the swarthy catcher a free pass. It was at this point that I assumed Maddon might pinch Molina for a faster runner. But he didn’t. Miller got Logan Forsythe to strikeout looking for the second time of the game, bringing Jennings to the plate. I again wondered if Maddon would pinch Molina — after all, Jennings has grounded into 10 double plays this season. But he didn’t.

John Farrel called upon Junichi Tazawa to face Jennings, and Tazawa walked the Rays’ center fielder on seven pitches. Maddon, at this point, (finally) pinched Molina for Cole Figueroa — a move that would pay instant dividends. With the count squared and only one out, Ben Zobrist laced an RBI base hit to Jonny Gomes in left. Gomes couldn’t field the ball cleanly, which allowed Jennings to move up to third. Tazawa followed by handing Guyer his second free pass of the night, loading the bases for Evan Longoria. The Rays franchise double and RBI leader didn’t disappoint; Longo slapped a three-RBI double to the left field corner, giving the Rays the go-ahead lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

The Rays are now 36-11 when they score five or more runs in a game — winners of eight straight, and 26 since June 11.

The New What Next

Jeremy Hellcikson and the Rays will go for their fourth consecutive series win tonight, against John Lackey and the Red Sox. Don’t get me wrong, Lackey (11-6, 3.66 ERA) has been pretty good this season, including his two starts versus the Rays this season when he yielded a measly two runs in 15-innings of work. However, he isn’t infallible. Lackey’s given up four or more runs six times this season, and three times in his last five starts. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 7/26/14 Starting Lineup

Jennings CF
Zobrist 2B
Joyce DH
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Guyer LF
Escobar SS
Molina C
Kiermaier RF
Hellickson RHP

Noteworthiness

  • The Rays have recalled Jeremy Hellickson to start, and designating Juan-Carlos Oviedo for assignment in the process. Could they be making room on the roster for another reliever? This move makes room for Hellickson, with the assumption that Jeff Beliveau will be optioned back to Triple-A Monday, ahead of Joel Peralta’s reactivation. However, once everyone is back (Hanigan, DeJesus, Myers), there will be a hole needing to be filled in the ‘pen — ie: either Beliveau, Rifenhauser, or an acquisition.
  • The Rays eight-game winning streak is tied for the second longest in team history. The longest was 12, from June 9 to June 22, 2004.
  • At 50-53 (.485 WP), the Rays have made up a lot of ground in their Pythagorean Expectation (51-52, .495 WP) chase.
  • Interesting. Per MLB Trade Rumors, the Red Sox have traded Sunday’s scheduled starter, Jake Peavy. We’ll keep you abreast of the matchup change.
  • Your tweet of the day:

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