Daniel Russell said it best in the lead in to his game recap, over at DRaysBay,
This was the sort of game that became a breath of fresh air, particularly as the Rays prepare for an grueling stretch of 32 games, including 29 against AL East opponents, with a three game series against Detroit mixed in. Before all of that, thankfully, is a four game series in Arlington.
In short, Tampa Bay was able to tag Colby Lewis and the Rangers for seven runs in the series opener, behind an excellent start by Drew Smyly.
If Smyly was great in his first start with the Rays, then he was flat out excellent Monday night in his second. In what is now his longest career outing, Smyly blanked the Texas Rangers over 7-2/3 innings, ringing up nine batters while tossing 116 pitches (71 strikes, 55 SNIPs). The lefty changed velocity effectively, ranging from 75 MPH to 93, and his fastball had great movement at the top of the zone (coaxing five whiffs). Meanwhile, his off-speed stuff looked crisp and he was able to notch eight whiffs.
With 93 pitches under his belt, Maddon allowed Smyly to start the eighth inning. However, he started to lose his command as he exceeded the 100 pitch mark. After a line out, a double off the bat of Rougned Odor, a Daniel Robertson walk, and a Shin-Soo Choo foul tip strikeout, Maddon called on Kirby Yates to face Elvis Andrus.
Smyly did an outstanding job of eating innings and putting together a dominant outing overall. Culling together an impressive 2.08 ERA in his 13 innings of work with Tampa Bay, the Rays newest lefty has fanned a total of 15 batters. In short, he’s doing what he can to fill the hole left in David Price’s wake.
Before I move on, I stumbled upon an interesting graphic (below) of the rest-of-the-season projections between Smyly and David Price (courtesy of Dan Szymborski’s and Fangraphs). Smyly is projected to perform just a hair below what Price should contribute overall.
Yates promptly waled Andrus, which lead to on field confusion. Jim Hickey immediately met with the rookie reliever, and while discussions were ongoing, the Rangers opted to pinch hit with Jim Aducci.
Once Aducci was announced, Joe Maddon slowly made his way to the mound, ready to make a pitching change in favor of Joel Peralta. Confused, Ron Washington took the field to discuss two coaching visits, which led to an on-field delay — playing right into Maddon’s hands. Fully warm, Peralta coaxed a tapper to short, and the Rays escaped a bases loaded jam. Grant Balfour followed with a shaky ninth, but the Rays remained unscathed.
Offensively speaking, Tampa Bay got on the board early in the contest. With a pair of runners on base, Curt Casali laid down a bunt right back to the mound — leading to a throwing error by Lewis at third, and allowing the first run to score. After Kevin Kiermaier struck out (looking), Desmond Jennings followed with a sac-bunt of his own. Attempting to score from third, Yunel Escobar was called out at the plate.
Joe Maddon requested that the call at home be reviewed — not challenged. In question, had the Rangers’ catcher, Robinson Chirinos, blocked the plate. The review confirmed he did not block the plate. An aside, Maddon was able to avoid using his challenge by encouraging the review.
Tampa Bay scored a couple more in that inning, thanks to a Ben Zobrist walk and a Matt Joyce single to right with bases loaded. The Rays tacked on a few more runs from there, with a Zobrist RBI double to score Kevin Kiermaier (who left the game in the seventh with lower back stiffness), RBI singles by Longoria and Jennings, and an RBI triple off the bat of Cole Figueroa in the ninth which scored Loney from first.
The New What Next
Jeremy Hellickson will look to build on his excellent outing against the A’s against Nick Tepesch and the Rangers. Tepesch (4-7, 4.83 ERA) followed a string of losses by tossing 5-2/3 scoreless innings Wednesday against the White Sox. In his only outing against Tampa Bay last season, the 25 year-old RHP held the Rays to one run on four hits in 7-1/3 innings of work. In the Rays favor, Tepesch’s strikeout numbers are down over his career norms, while his walk rate is up slightly (and significantly over last season). You can read about the matchup in our series preview.
Rays 8/12/14 Starting Lineup
Jennings CF
Zobrist SS
Joyce LF
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Rodriguez DH
Forsythe 2B
Molina C
Kiermaier RF
Hellickson RHP
Noteworthiness
- Ben Zobrist hit his franchise leading 222nd double Monday night. He also reached base three times — having now done so in four consecutive games. He’s posted a .444 average and ten walks over a 16 game span.
- Kevin Kiermaier is listed as day-to-day.
- Rays OF prospect Josh Sale has been suspended for 50 games after his second positive test for drug abuse. Sale has spent his playing time with Class-A Charlotte this season. This is the third time he has been suspended, (the second time for violating the drug policy). He was also suspended for conduct detrimental to the organization. Sale was quoted in January after returning from his last suspension, “I was able to grow up. That’s what really needed to be worked on, just me as a person.”
- The Rays have not allowed more than three runs in 15 consecutive road games, tying the 1968 Indians for the AL record. The MLB record is 21 set by the 2008 Cubs. Monday was the Rays 14th shutout — all of them combined. Drew Smyly became the eighth different starter involved in a shutout. Additionally, the pitching staff has struck out 54 batters over the past four games — a club record for most strikeouts over four games.
- Your tweet of the day:
WATCH: Wil Myers destroys a hanging curve ball for a Grand Slam in Rochester last night: http://t.co/zWQoGoxMYs cc: @RaysBaseball
— Durham Bulls (@DurhamBulls) August 12, 2014