The Rays walked away from the Trop with another series win Sunday, after they came from behind to defeat the Giants by a score of 4-3. Tampa Bay is now 11-0-2 in the 13 series’ they’ve played since the middle of June. Since it’s a lazy day off, I’m going to do something a bit differently. The game summary will be broken down into the principal and peripheral. That is, the things that directly contributed to the win, and the others that formed the periphery.
The Principal
- Tampa Bay scored in the first, fifth, and sixth innings, rallying from behind to take a 4-3 lead they’d never relinquish. Wil Myers, Sam Fuld, and Evan Longoria came up with the key hits that gave the Rays that lead.
- With two outs in the bottom of the first, and a runner (Ben Zobrist) in scoring position, Wil Myers crushed his eighth homer of the year — a 405 foot blast to left-field giving the Rays an early 2-1 lead.
- After Sam Fuld reached base on a walk in the fifth inning, he made a very important move: Fuld stole second with two-outs, setting up what happened next. Evan Longoria hit a 1-2 single to left, easily scoring Fuld from second.
- With two outs in the sixth inning and Yunel Escobar on second base, Sam Fuld sent an 0-1 Jose Mijares curve-ball to right-field, plating Escobar for the go ahead run.
- At first, I questioned Joe Maddon’s line of thinking when Roberto Hernandez was pulled two outs into the fourth inning. After all, Hernandez wasn’t terrible. However one thing was certain, after giving up eight hits, including two doubles and a triple, he was getting BABIP’d by the Giants. Sure, some hits leaked through… Hits that spoke more to his bad luck than anything else. But he didn’t seem to be getting any better, and the bullpen was fresh. Plus, they’re getting two off-days this week. Why not lean on the A pen?
- And speaking of the bullpen, Alex Torres, Jake McGee, Joel Peralta, and Fernando Rodney were outstanding Sunday, posting a combined 4.1 IP/1 H/0 R/0 BB/5 K slash line. Torres was credited with his fourth win of the year, while Rodney picked up his 27th save.
- Tampa Bay took down the 2012 World Series champions Sunday in front of a sold out crowd. The last time that the Rays sold out a game that wasn’t Opening Day was on April 7, 2012 against the New York Yankees. This came on the heals of three consecutive plus 20,000 games, including a near sellout Saturday. I’ve long pined for a Rays/Giants World Series. In the past, both have been evenly keeled teams built on solid pitching, strong defense, and timely hitting. The outcome of three close games speaks to that. I’ve got to say, the big crowds really made the weekend series feel like October baseball.
The Periphery
- Evan Longoria’s 1-4 day at the plate may seem unremarkable if the back story wasn’t taken into consideration. But Longo went 0-19 prior to his fifth inning RBI single — a hitless streak extending back to the one game series against Boston a week back. Welcome back, Evan.
- Wil Myers’ post home run actions may have been misinterpreted as bravado, potentially prompting Roger Kieschnick’s hard slide into Yunel Escobar in the second inning. Bravado, it was not. Myers was simply fending off gravity, stabilizing himself from falling over after his 405 foot blast.
- Speaking of Wil Myers, since the All-Star Break he has hit five home runs and is hitting .417. Wil leads American League rookies with a wRC+ of 154, and is second among all rookies in MLB to Puig (191). When questioned about his production, Myers has mentioned that he’s “seeing the ball really well.” Seeing the ball is only part of the story, he’s also killing pitches all over the zone.
- Alex Torres year-to-date: 34 1/3 IP, 42 K, 11 BB, 10 H, 0 HR, 0.26 ERA. Torres leads all MLB relievers.
Noteworthiness
- A-Rod is expected to be suspended for his use of PED’s any minute now. Then again, the fateful suspension has been expected since last week, so… Nevertheless, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports, that A-Rod “Will be suspended through at least the 2014 season in an announcement Monday by Major League Baseball, but the New York Yankees third baseman plans to file an immediate appeal, enabling him to play Monday night against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field, two people with direct knowledge of the plan told USA TODAY Sports.” National Public Radio’s Mike Pesca has an interesting take on the looming suspension, “It’s likely he will be playing under the cloud of being the guy who will get the longest steroid suspension ever.”