(Photo Credit: Anthony Ateek/X-Rays Spex)

For the first time since 2014, the Tampa Bay Rays walked away from Tropicana Field victorious on Opening Day. On that Opening Day, the Rays shelled RA Dickey and the Blue Jays by a 9-2 margin behind then ace David Price. Fast forward three years, when this incarnation of the Rays — behind ace Chris Archer — shelled Masahiro Tanaka and the Yankees by a score of 7-3 in front of a sellout crowd.

Tampa Bay handed Tanaka one of the worst results of his major league career, knocking him out in the third inning. It all started in the first when the Rays took an early three-run lead.

Corey Dickerson led off the Rays half of the first with single to right-center to start the rally. Kevin Kiermaier, who ended the day 2-2 with a pair of walks, followed with a hustle double to left-center, putting runners into scoring position.

Evan Longoria followed with a sacrice-fly to right, before Brad Miller lashed an infield hit off the glove of first baseman Greg Bird. After Steven Souza Jr. walked to load the bases, Logan Morrison ripped a two-run single to center to cap the three-run rally.

Meanwhile, the Yankees answered with a two-run second when Aaron Judge doubled home Starlin Castro, and Ronald Torreyes plated Chase Headley on a groundout to second.

However, the Rays bounced back in the bottom of the second. Kiermaier battled Tanaka for eight pitches before earning a two-out walk, then Longoria hit a line drive homer off the top of the cutout in the left-field corner for a two-run homer. Fittingly, that area is now named the Ducky’s 162 Landing after Longo’s restaurant. Make that three RBI and a run for Longoria in his first two at-bats.

Not to be outdone, Morrison hit a towering homer to right of the Rays’ Tank in the third for a four-run lead.

Morrison’s solo smash

Logan Morrison belts a solo home run in the bottom of the 3rd inning, giving the Rays a 6-2 lead with his third RBI of the game

Last season it took LoMo over 100 plate appearances to reach three runs batted in. On Sunday, he did it in two.

Filling at short while Matt Duffy sits on the disabled list, Tim Beckham doubled and came home when Mallex Smith’s beautifully placed bunt was errantly thrown up the right field line by catcher Gary Sanchez.

That was it for Tanaka, who lasted just 2-2/3 innings — his second shortest stint in 76 games with the Yankees. The right-hander, who gave up four runs in first inning all of last year, allowed seven runs (all earned) on eight hits and a walk.

On the other side, Archer calmed down after the two-run second, and was both efficient and dominant over the next four innings, giving up just one hit. He did allow a pair of singles to start the seventh, yet he fanned Judge and got pinch-hitter Aaron Hicks to fly out to right. After Brett Gardner singled to left to load the bases with two outs, Archer got Sanchez to ground to short to end the inning — punctuating the end of his day with an animated hat toss.

Archer’s slider was sharp. He changed speeds with the off-speed pitch, and challenged the Yankees’ batters with his fastball/slider combo, even adding some depth to his heater by subtracting a few miles per hour. As Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) pointed out, Archer’s 108 pitches were the most by a Rays opening day starter since Albie Lopez in 2001, and they matched the most by any major-leaguer on opening day since 2014 (Chris Sale vs. Twins).

I want (the other pitchers on the staff) to know when stuff gets hairy, you need to strap it on and go right after them, Archer said after the game. We don’t need to be bailed out. We need to get out of the inning.

Danny Farquhar followed Archer and hurled an incredibly efficient 12-pitch (nine strikes) scoreless eighth, ringing up both Bird and Matt Holiday before coaxing a foul out by Castro.

Austin Pruitt made his big league debut in the ninth, and quickly allowed an opposite field single to Headley. Then Judge and Hicks reached on back-to-back fielding errors by Longoria and Beckham, loading the bases.

Now in a save situation, Alex Colome entered the game and got the first out on a weakly hit sac-fly to left by Chris Carter. The closer then put down Sanchez for the second out before Bird flew out to center, ending the game and allowing Colome to earn his first save of the season.


Source: FanGraphs
Seriously though, was there really any doubt the Rays would pull through with a win?

The New What Next

After an off day Monday, Jake Odorizzi (10-6, 3.69 in 2016) will make his first start of 2017 opposite of Grimmace, urm…CC Sabathia (9-12, 3.91 ERA in 2016). Odorizzi went 2-1 with a 2.29 ERA in three starts against the Bronx Bummers last season. After a rather slow start to the 2016 season, the right-hander went 7-1 with a 2.71 ERA after the All-Star break. The veteran southpaw is beginning his 17th big league season.

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