The Tampa Bay Rays snapped their six game losing streak on Saturday, as Erasmo Ramirez and two relievers combined for a seven inning three-hit shutout. The Rays, who supported Ramirez with two solo homers and a sac fly, are now 25-25 on the season.
That other smiley guy (Erasmo) posted seven strong innings for the first time since July 22, 2014 when he did so for Seattle against the Mets. Ramirez needed just 84 pitches (an efficient 12 pitches per inning) and gave up only three hits and a walk, while fanning a season-high seven.
The righty allowed only one runner past first base, and that came in the fifth inning. In that frame, left fielder Joey Butler cut down Baltimore’s Steve Clevenger at the plate as he attempted to score from second on Ryan Flaherty’s two-out single.
Otherwise Ramirez was a ground ball machine, coaxing nine total (and six other balls in play).
Erasmo attacked with his fastball/changeup, a combo which worked to his advantage. Yet his slider and curveball worked for him as well. While Ramirez only threw five sliders, four went for strikes — three of which were whiffs. And of the seven curves he threw, four were strikes (one whiff, three foul balls).
I’m really happy right now, Ramirez said after the after the game. I cannot stop smiling. …When they start hitting, we just have to put the ball in play because we have a really good defense behind us. That showed me that the team was with me, so I had to show them that I was with them.
Ramirez should be happy. The once maligned starter did his job of keeping the Orioles hitters off balance by attacking all of the quadrants of the zone, not pitching around it.
Brandon Gomes took over for Ramirez and worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning, and Brad Boxberger did the same in the ninth for his 14th save. Tampa Bay retired the last 12 Baltimore hitters in order.
Offensively speaking, Joey Butler was one who helped Tampa Bay get off to a good start. The Rays scored in each of the first three innings against the tough lefty Wei-Yin Chen.
In the first inning Brandon Guyer doubled to the right-field corner, then aggressively moved to third (getting in just ahead of Manny Machado’s tag) on Butler’s infield single to short. Evan Longoria plated the first run on a deep sac-fly to center field. Steven Souza Jr., who came up short on a bases loaded strikeout the previous night, and Butler each hit opposite field homers in the next two innings. For Souza, it was his team leading ninth of the season and second in as many days. Butler’s homer was his third of the year.
The New What Next
Jake Odorizzi looks to help the Tampa Bay Rays rack up their second consecutive win, when he toes the rubber opposite of Chris Tillman. Odorizzi is coming off a 4-1 loss to the Mariners in his last start where he threw seven innings and gave up five hits, two runs (one earned), two walks and fanned seven. It was his ninth time pitching into the seventh inning this season in 10 starts. Tillman has lost five consecutive decisions and is without a victory in his last six starts after beginning the season 2-1. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 5/31/15 Starting Lineup
Kiermaier CF
Butler DH
Longoria 3B
DeJesus LF
Forsythe 1B
Souza RF
Cabrera SS
Franklin 2B
Wilson C
Odorizzi RHP
Noteworthiness
— On the subject of Jake Elmore as the Rays makeshift first baseman, Ian Malinowski (DRaysBay) writes,
- Elmore made a pretty excellent scoop on a throw in the dirt and to his right for the third out of the first inning.
- In the fifth inning, though, Elmore pulled off a grounder up the right side that he maybe thought the second baseman had covered, but was clearly his to field.
- Elmore made another fine fielding play on a hard ground ball up the line in the ninth. There are hiccups with a new position, but good job so far.
— Per Connor Smolensky (MLB.com), Ramirez’s start now gives the Rays 25 1/3 consecutive innings where their starters have not allowed a single run.
— Sounds like the potential of Derby Lane stadium site is gaining legs. WFLA Channel 8 reported on the location late last week, and now Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) chimed in:
Interesting that Derby Lane came up during the St. Petersburg City Council stadium workshop; that site has always seemed an intriguing option.
We’ve heralded Derby Lane as a reasonable locale, much more so than downtown Tampa or Ybor City.
— A few tweets between Chris Archer and Steve Geltz about the negative aspects of fluoridation earned them a headline on a Vice Sports article for being “fluoride truthers.”
— Per Baseball Prospectus, the Rays now have a 40% chance of a postseason berth (12.5% wildcard berth). As for FanGraphs, Tampa Bay has a 19.2% of making the postseason (7.6% wildcard berth).