Smyly scattered seven singles while fanning two throughout his start. He may not have been spectacular, but he was good enough to keep Oakland at bay. The lefty focused more on pitching to contact, and — playing off the Athletics aggressiveness at the plate — forced more than his share of weak pop ups and fly balls. More importantly though, his command was much better and he was able to locate all of his pitches.
It just helps when you can locate all your pitches, Smyly said. In Texas I was pretty much throwing two pitches: fastball, slider. Today I threw some changeups, I threw a lot of curveballs, my slider was good. All in all it felt good out there.
And while he only struck out two, both K’s came in crucial moments.
In the fifth inning, after retiring the first two batters, Smyly gave up back-to-back singles to Coco Crisp and Marcus Semien, bringing Billy Burns to the plate. The lefty got Burns to swing through an elevated fastball on the eighth pitch of the at-bat to end the threat.
Smyly allowed three singles in the sixth, sandwiched around a Danny Valencia liner to left. With the bases loaded and one out, Smyly struck out Brett Lawrie for the second out — spelling the end of his night, and bringing RHP reliever Brandon Gomes to the mound. Gomes got pinch-hitter Stephen Vogt to pop out, then came back out to post an impressive 1-2-3 seventh. He’s now collected 26 outs without allowing a baserunner. Steve Geltz then worked a perfect eighth.
Shifting gears a bit, Tampa Bay took an early one run lead in the second inning, after Logan Forsythe was hit by a pitch. Forsythe was wild pitched to second, and came home on a one-out single to left by Desmond Jennings.
Jennings also provided an all too important insurance run in the ninth, hammering a ball into the upper deck off reliever Evan Scribner for his first homer of the season.
As good a spot as any for @d_jennings8 to launch his first HR since 8-8-14. WATCH: http://t.co/npvl8JCDWl pic.twitter.com/WNGGNySzy8
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) August 22, 2015
Tampa Bay had numerous other opportunities to add to its advantage against starter Chris Bassitt.
Asdrubal Cabrera started the fifth with a bunt single and advanced to second on a Jennings groundout. Kevin Kiermaier reached on an infield single off Bassitt’s glove, putting runners at the corners, then Curt Casali walked to load the bases. John Jaso hit the ball hard…yet right into a 4-6-3 double play.
Then in the sixth, Grady Sizemore hit a leadoff double, but the Rays were unable to advance him.
Sigh…another wasted opportunity in the seventh. Kevin Kiermaier, who reached on a fielder’s choice, was moved to third on Curt Casali’s double to the left-field corner. Kiermaier got a good jump off first, and his great speed — combined with Crisp’s weak arm — made for an excellent scoring opportunity, but Charlie Montoya put up the stop sign. Jaso was then hit with a 1-0 pitch, which loaded the bases and sounded the death knell for Bassitt. It also set up one of the more odd moments in baseball, as ambidextrous hurler Pat Venditte took them mound in relief.
Per an MLB rule change, it is the switch pitcher’s responsibility to designate which hand he intends to use when pitching to the next batter. From that point, he has to throw from that side regardless if a pinch hitter is used. Grady Sizemore was pinched for the switch hitting Daniel Nava — not Brandon Guyer or Tim Beckham — even though Venditte was already relegated to throwing as a lefty for that particular plate appearance. Nava popped out to end the prime scoring opportunity.
Up by two runs, Brad Boxberger took over in the ninth. Josh Reddick lined-out to right to start the inning, but Brett Lawrie and Stephen Vogt went back-to-back with singles to put a pair on with one out. Boxberger followed by uncorking a wild pitch which moved the tying runs into scoring position. Coco Crisp scored the Athletics’ first run on a blooped a single to center that was just out the reach of Cabrera. Kiermaier, who fielded the play, tried to throw behind Sam Fuld at second, but the throw was errant and allowed the former Ray to move up to third. Crisp at first was paid no attention and swiped second, putting the tying and winning runs into scoring position. However, Boxberger struck out an over anxious Semien and got Billy Burns to fly out to left, ending the game. For Boxberger it was his 30th save.
The New What Next
Erasmo Ramirez (10-4, 3.57) will takes the mound Saturday for the Rays, opposite of the American League ERA leader Sonny Gray (12-5, 2.04). Ramirez yielded two earned runs in 5-2/3 innings against the Astros on Monday. The righty has lost his last five starts against Oakland, and is 0-6 with a 5.26 ERA against them in his career. Gray is 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA in four career starts against Tampa Bay. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 8/22/15 Starting Lineup
Jaso DH
Sizemore RF
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Forsythe 2B
Cabrera SS
Jennings LF
Kiermaier CF
Casali C
Ramirez RHP
Noteworthiness
— Brad Boxberger, after his messy outing and tough save:
You take the end result, definitely. A win’s a win no matter how it is. I still feel I have a lot of work to do. When things are not going your way you can really tell they’re not going your way.