This is the best/worst game.
— Rickie Dixon
I could be wrong, yet I can’t help but feel that Rickie offered the best recap of the Tampa Bay Rays 10-9, extra inning loss to the Miami Marlins Friday night — and he did so in only six words. Still for whatever reason, I just couldn’t leave well enough alone. My compulsion, sadly, was to add to his summary. Wordiness is my cross to bear. Whatever the case, it was the best game because the Rays were able to close a seven run deficit in one inning, then rally once again to push the game into extra innings. And let’s be honest, this extra inning game was much more exciting than that six-hour-plus behemoth in the Bronx. Yet in true yin/yang fashion, Tampa Bay got into a huge hole early on, then inevitably lost.
Instead of a complete game summary, what follows is a recap by way of the pitchers.
Kevin Cash went into things with an ambitious idea: don’t allow a Rays pitcher to step into the batter’s box. In doing so, he cobbled together what amounted to a bullpen rotation. Cash was successful in some respects, yet he also shot himself in the foot in others — had the game gone longer than 10 innings, only Kevin Jepsen was left in the bullpen, and no batters were left on the bench. Anyhow, the Rays manager chose to start Steve Geltz; a pitcher who hadn’t started a game since his senior year in high school (2005).
Steve Geltz
Geltz quickly gave up a leadoff hit to the speedy Dee Gordon, who promptly swiped second base. To be fair Rene Rivera (in trying to gun down Gordon) threw a strike to Asdrubal Cabrera who was covering second base, but the Marlins’ infielder got in just ahead of the tag. Geltz remained poised and coxed a chopper back to the mound by Christian Yelich. The Rays starter caught Gordon off second base and fired the ball behind him, yet Gordon was able to stay in the run down long enough for Yelich to move up to second. Yelich then moved to third on a wild pitch, and came home when Michael Morse poked a base hit through the right side on a good fastball on the outside corner.
Geltz struck out Martin Prado to end the inning, then worked around a walk to pitch a clean second frame. Interestingly enough, it was apparent that Mike Redmond (Marlins manager) had his crew read the scouting report on the Rays’ hurlers, and they expected the rising fastball to be a part of the repertoire. Ian Malinowski (DRaysBay) spoke to that in his game recap:
I saw that both Stanton and Morse were actually swinging a little bit high on Geltz’s fastball, which is unusual with all the rise it has. Seemed to me like they’d gotten the scouting report. I was happy Geltz would not have to face them a second time this game — one of the perks of being a reliever.
Erasmo Ramirez
Miami built a seven-run lead, thanks to a six-run fourth against Erasmo Ramirez. Ramirez had no command of his pitches, and he was unable to establish his fastball because of it. When a pitcher who depends upon a change-up cannot establish his fastball, there is approximately a 0.0% chance that (or any) pitch will be effective. Marcell Ozuna started the inning from hell with single to second. Jarrod Saltalamacchia followed with a four pitch walk. Adeiny Hechavarria laced an outside slider to center for an RBI double. Two batters later Ramirez walked the bases loaded before Yelich singled to center, scoring Saltalamacchia and Hechavarria in the process. The carnage wasn’t done.
Giancarlo Stanton plated two more on a double to left, then Morse drove in Stanton on a single to right. By the time Ramirez struck out the final two batters (Prado and Ozuna) to end the inning, the Rays were down 8-1. Ouch.
Grant Balfour and Matt Andriese
Grant Balfour and Matt Andriese combined to post scoreless frames in the fifth and sixth innings. In the case of Balfour, he worked around a Saltalamacchia double to right by forcing a pair of grounders to short out of Hechavarria and Gordon, with a Dan Haren fly-ball out to right sandwiched in between. Andriese worked around a Stanton walk, and notably struck out Morse (swinging) on a filthy sweeping slider.
Kirby Yates
Kirby Yates got the nod in the seventh after the Rays put up a seven run top of the inning. Yates worked a foul out from Ozuna, then posted back-to-back strikeouts of Saltalamacchia and Hechavarria. He came back out in the eighth and gave up a 1-1 single to center off the bat of Donovan Solano.
Jeff Beliveau
Beliveau came into the game and quickly coaxed a bunt out of Gordon which Rivera fielded quickly, and fired to second to get the lead runner. Athough, with an open base, Gordon swiped his second bag of the night before striking out Yelich (swinging). With two outs and a fast runner on second, Cash called upon Ernesto Frieri to face Stanton.
Ernesto Frieri
Despite a lucky foul popper (which landed in the stands) on a very obvious mistake that leaked over the heart of the plate, Frieri got ahead of Stanton with an 0-2 count. Frieri was one pitch away from getting out of the inning, leaving one to wonder what pitch he would throw; A sweeping slider? A change-up down in the zone? A fastball outside of the zone? The answer was, none of the above. Frieri came back with a similar pitch (to the previous two) in a similar location!
Stanton did what he’s wont to do, send an RBI single up the middle. Now down by one, Frieri allowed a stolen base and a walk before getting Ichiro Suzuki to end the inning on a ground out to short. Tampa Bay scored a run in the top of the inning, and the reliever came back in the ninth. Frieri worked a beautiful seven pitch 1-2-3 frame (two fly-ball outs, and a foul out) to send the game into extra innings.
Brad Boxberger
Down to two relievers left in the pen, Cash called upon Boxberger in the 10th. Boxy struck out Solano on three pitches, but allowed a Gordon double on a good change-up that fell just fair up the right side. Yelich was next. The left-fielder saw only fastballs from Boxberger, three low (ball, strike, strike) and one of the rising variety. Yelich swung over the pitch for an opposite field base hit which scored Gordon easily. A bad pitch? Not necessarily. Credit Yelich for reading the scouting report and guessing right.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the pair of rallies by Tampa Bay. For that, I’ll depend upon the wise words of Neil Solondz:
Down 8-1 heading to the seventh inning, the Rays sent 11 hitters to the plate against three Marlins relievers, tying the score on an Asdrubal Cabrera single, his third hit of the night. A batter prior, pinch-hitter David DeJesus belted a three-run double to right that was nearly a grand slam. The previous three runs in the inning scored on bases-loaded walks to Logan Forsythe, Brandon Guyer and Kevin Kiermaier. Prior to the seventh, Kevin Kiermaier’s solo homer had been the only Rays tally.
The Rays rallied in the ninth against closer Steve Cishek to tie the score again. Brandon Guyer doubled to right, and held as Kiermaier struck out. Bobby Wilson in his first at-bat as a Rays player blooped a single to right. Cabrera then beat about a potential double play ball to first as Guyer scored to tie the game.
The New What Next
Chris Archer will make his second start of the season. He will butt heads with Jarred Cosart who was pushed to the fifth starter spot due to a blister. Archer faced the fish once in his career, losing 1-0 on a bases-loaded walk by Yelich. It was the second time in club history the Rays were defeated 1-0 on a bases-loaded walk, along with June 26, 2005 against, you guessed it, the Marlins. You can read about the pitching match-up in our series preview.
Rays 4/11/15 Starting Lineup
