Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays take down Le Tigre, 7-5

The Tampa Bay Rays won a nail-biter Friday night. They've now won four in a row, tying their season high. (Photo credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
The Tampa Bay Rays won a nail-biter Friday night. They’ve now won four in a row, tying their season high. (Photo credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
The Tampa Bay Rays continued their offensive run on Friday night, tying a franchise record, and holding on for a 7-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Tampa Bay is back to over .500 for the second time this season.


Source: FanGraphs

Tampa Bay took an early one-run lead in the first inning after Steven Souza Jr. hammered the second pitch of the game over the left field wall.

It was Souza’s team leading ninth homer of the season.

Brad Miller followed by working a five pitch walk, then scored on Corey Dickerson’s two-out double to left. Desmond Jennings preceded to reach on an infield single that was grounded wide of first before the RBI machine, Logan Morrison, drilled a single to right, scoring Dickerson to cap the three-run rally.

Morrison has now picked up an RBI in three consecutive games.

After the shaky first, Sanchez settled in and retired 12 of the next 13 batters before a three-run sixth.

Down by three, Detroit was able to steal a run against starter Matt Andriese in an awkward second inning. Justin Upton walked with one out on a borderline 3-2 pitch, and then went from first to third on Cameron Maybin’s single to right. Upton later scored on an Andriese balk, also moving Maybin up to second.

This is "ball four" to Justin Upton, which consequently cost Andriese and the Tampa Bay Rays a run. (Photo Credit: Tigers Strike Zone)
This is “ball four” to Justin Upton, which consequently cost Andriese and the Tampa Bay Rays a run. (Photo Credit: Tigers Strike Zone)

Either Upton had something on home plate umpire Jerry Meals, or the strike zone was a mess, because Andriese was squeezed once more against Upton later in the game — another call that resulted in a free pass and a run.

Detroit evened up the score in the third, and it all started when Ian Kinsler lined a single to center. JD Martinez grounded a potential double play into the shift at short, but Steve Pearce complicated things when he broke for the ball, leaving Miller’s only play at first. The mighty Miggy came through with a two-run homer to right (his first of two on the night) knotting the score at three. Nevertheless the Rays answered a few innings later with a three-run rally in the sixth.

Evan Longoria sparked the rally with a single to left, extending his hit streak to eight games, before Pearce walked ― chasing starter Anibal Sanchez.

Lefty Kyle Ryan entered the game and quickly fanned Corey Dickerson before Desmond Jennings grounded to second for the second out. His out was productive, however, and both runners moved into scoring position. Ryan obviously felt the pressure placed on him by the next batter — subsequently walking the thunderous bat of Morrison, and setting the plate for Kevin Kiermaier. The Outlaw tripled into the right field corner on the first pitch of the at-bat, scoring three and giving Tampa Bay the lead for good. Detroit nearly erased the three-run lead in the bottom of the inning though.

The Tigers  chased Andriese after a V-Mart single, a Nick Castellanos fielder’s choice (which again should have been a double play), and another egregiously called walk of Upton.

How in God's name is this a ball?!
Ball three, not strike three. How in God’s name is this a ball?! (Photo Credit: Tigers Strike Zone)

Cameron Maybin welcomed reliever Ryan Webb with a single to left on a hanging breaking pitch, thus loading the bases. Catcher James McCann then chased Webb with a base hit, making it a two-run game. Kevin Cash saw enough and called upon the rubber-armed Erasmo Ramirez, who got a double play ball to keep the Rays in front.

After putting down the first two batters of the seventh, Ramirez surrendered a mammoth homer to Cabrera, his second of the game, bringing Le Tigre within one. Yet Pearce stole the run back with a solo shot of his own in the top of the eighth, capping the Rays scoring.

Enny Romero followed with a shutout eighth, punctuated with an inning ending double play from McCann. Alex Colome entered in the ninth…but his assignment would be a tough one.

Colome, who has not allowed a run in 11 save situations this year, began the frame by coaxing a Jose Iglesias ground-ball to short, however, Miller mishandled it for his second error of the night. El Caballo got Kinsler and JD Martinez to go down swinging, bringing Cabrera to the plate.

Cabrera, who now is 4-5 with two homers against Colome, singled to right putting runners at the corners. Nevertheless V-Mart, grounded into the shift to Miller, ending the game.

The Rays have now collected at least six runs for the sixth straight game, tying a franchise record set initially in 2005. Tampa Bay also hit two homers, giving the team 60 on the season, tops in the majors.

The New What Next

Tampa Bay and Detroit will play the second of three on Saturday. Drew Smyly will toe the rubber opposite of Michael Fulmer. Smyly is coming off an uneven start in Toronto, walking four and throwing 101 pitches in five innings but allowing only one run and earning the win. Fulmer makes fifth start since his April 29 big-league debut. He lasted just Lasted 4-1/3 innings in his last start. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 5/21/16

Guyer LF
Miller SS
Longoria 3B
Pearce 2B
Dickerson DH
Souza RF
Morrison 1B
Kiermaier CF
Casali C
Smyly LHP

Noteworthiness

— Haters of Kevin Cash take note: last night’s win allowed Cash to improve to 100-101 on his career as manager, reaching 100 wins quicker than his four predecessors: Larry Rothschild (246), Hal McRae (272), Lou Piniella (235), and yes…Joe Maddon (266).

— The Rays have now scored at least four runs in 15 of their last 25 games.

Rays 5/20/16 starting lineup, team re-signs JP Arencibia

J.P. Arencibia is expected to sign a minor league deal with the Rays Friday afternoon. (Photo Credit: Will Vragovic/Tampa Bay Times)

J.P. Arencibia is expected to sign a minor league deal with the Rays Friday afternoon. (Photo Credit: Will Vragovic/Tampa Bay Times)

Rays 5/20/16 Starting Lineup

Souza Jr. RF
Miller SS
Longoria 3B
Pearce 2B
Dickerson DH
Jennings LF
Morrison 1B
Kiermaier CF
Conger C
Andriese RHP

Noteworthiness

— The Rays have re-signed catcher J.P. Arencibia to a minor-league deal ― news that was tentatively confirmed by Arencibia, then made official by Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) on Friday.

According to Topkin, Arencibia will report initially to Triple-A Durham, but could provide an alternative if there was an injury to one of the Rays two catchers, or if Hank Conger were to continue to struggle.

Arencibia, 30, slashed .310 BA/.315 OBP/.606 SLG/.921 OPS/.388 wOBA/4.3 wRAA with six homers and 17 RBI in 24 games for Tampa Bay late last season, after spending most of the year with Triple-A Durham.

He was signed in the offseason by the Philadelphia Phillies, who sent him to the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs, from where he was released (by request) on Monday. Arencibia didn’t fare well with the IronPigs, although it could be argued his lackluster .167 BA/.167 OBP/.271 SLG/.438 OPS line was the product of a limited number of plate appearances (48 PA in just 12 games) this season. Still Steamer had him pegged to post some pretty uninspiring numbers in 2016, so it is anyone’s guess if this acquisition will prove worthwhile or not.

After the release of Carlos Corporan the Rays have Luke Maile catching at Triple-A, and Conger on the active roster with Curt Casali, who has gotten the bulk of the time behind the plate.

— Brad Boxberger (core muscle surgery) is moving his rehab assignment up to Triple-A Durham, where he will pitch Saturday out of the bullpen.

Don’t forget to read about tonight’s pitching matchup, and so much more, in our series preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs Le Tigre ― a series preview

The ‪‎Rays‬ 31 runs vs. the Blue Jays were their most ever in a three-game road series. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
The ‪‎Rays‬ 31 runs vs. the Blue Jays were their most ever in a three-game road series. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
The Tampa Bay Rays look to build off an excellent start to their eight-game road trip, when they visit the red hot Detroit Tigers on Friday to begin a three-game set.

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Tampa Bay collected 44 hits, including 20 for extra bases ― both franchise records for a three-game series ― and scored 31 times to set a team mark for a three-game road set, in the sweep of the scuffling Blue Jays.

We’re in a good place right now, and we’re looking to keep it rolling in Detroit, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash told reporters Wednesday after the 6-3 series finale.

OF Kevin Kiermaier added,

We’re all clicking on all cylinders. It’s a fun time to be a Ray right now and I love it.

Kiermaier, who hit a two-run shot on Wednesday, extended his hit streak to seven games. Logan Morrison went 6-10 in the series with his first homer and first three runs batted in of the season for Tampa Bay.

In spite of their 19-21 record, the Tigers have been hot of late. Totaling 29 runs on 50 hits, Detroit has won four consecutive games ― this after scoring 35 runs while dropping 11 of 12. Leadoff hitter Ian Kinsler homered for a career-high fourth consecutive game on Wednesday and went 3-4 as Detroit completed their own three-game sweep.

Kinsler, who is 13-28 during a seven-game hitting streak, isn’t the only Tiger swinging a hot bat. J.D. Martinez is 9-16 with three homers over his last four contests, while Miguel Cabrera is 8-19 with two homers in last five games.

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The Rays impressively mashed eight homers between Monday and Wednesday, allowing the team to take over the major league lead in homers with 58. However, they have shown something over the last 14 days that they hadn’t all season: their luck appears to be changing. Consider this, the team’s BABIP ― the metric largely associated with luck ― jumped from .252 at the onset of the series against Toronto to .283 ― a 31 point increase. Tampa Bay has made hard contact all season, largely to no avail, yet now it appears those balls are falling into play. In short, the home runs are nice, however, dependence upon the long ball is unsustainable. The team looks to be on the cusp of not only mashing, but being able to string hits, and innings, together.

Kevin Cash will throw Matt Andriese (2-0, 0.56 ERA), Drew Smyly (2-4, 3.44 ERA) and Chris Archer (3-4, 4.38 ERA) over the next three days. Brad Ausmus will counter with Anibal Sanchez (3-4, 5.91 ERA), Michael Fulmer (2-1, 6.52 ERA) and Jordan Zimmerman (6-2, 2.45 ERA).

Andriese fanned five and walked none in his second start of the season Saturday against Oakland, after limiting the Angels to one run on four hits over seven innings on May 8. The 26 year-old righty allowed one run in two outings (one inning) against the Tigers last season. Smyly did not have his best stuff on Monday, but he competed and picked up his second win of the season. He has faced his former team just once, allowing four runs in a five-inning no-decision. Archer put together a gritty six inning performance against the Blue Jays en route to his third win of the season on Tuesday. Falling behind batters has been his biggest enemy this season, so look for him to attack the zone on Sunday. He is 1-1 with a 2.08 ERA in four career starts against the Tigers.

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Sanchez is winless in his last three outings, relinquishing four runs in each appearance and three homers combined to suffer two losses and a no-decision. The 32-year-old hurler has struggled with control while walking 24 in 42-2/3 innings overall with 39 strikeouts and eight homers allowed. Sanchez is 2-3 (0-1 in 2015) with a 5.08 ERA in seven career starts versus Tampa Bay. He has relied primarily on his 92 mph four seam fastball with good rising action this season, while also mixing in a 92 mph sinker, an 84 mph ground ball coaxing slider, an 84 mph worm burner of a changeup, 89 mph cutter and 78 mph curveball with little depth. Key matchups: Curt Casali (1-2, HR, RBI), Kevin Kiermaier (2-5, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI), Evan Longoria (4-13, 2B, 3B, 2BB), Steven Souza Jr. (1-3, 2B)

Fulmer will make his fifth start filling in for the injured Shane Greene, although this will be his first start at Comerica Park after four road outings. He has yet to pitch into the sixth inning. His repertoire is composed of four pitches: a hard 96 mph sinker that generates grounders, an 89 mph slider, a 96 mph four seam fastball with good rising action and a hard 87 mph fly-ball inducing changeup.

Zimmermann allowed eight runs (seven earned) on 11 hits with nine strikeouts over seven innings in a win over the Twinson Monday. He was bailed out by eight runs of support in the first inning and pounded the zone from there on out. Of his 109 total pitches thrown, 84 went for strikes (27 first-pitch strikes) and didn’t allow a walk. Still the Twins managed four extra-base hits, including two home runs. Zimmerman boasts a 93 mph four seam fastball, an 88 mph slider and an 81 mph curveball. He also rarely throws an 86 mph circle changeup and a 93 mph sinker. The 29 year-old righty went 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA against the Rays last season. Key matchups: Curt Casali (2-2, HR, RBI, BB), Corey Dickerson (2-3, 2B, HR, RBI), Kevin Kiermaier (1-4), Steve Pearce (4-9, 2 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, BB), Steven Souza Jr. (2-3, HR, RBI)

Noteworthiness

― Desmond Jennings’ bat has woken up over the last two games, going 4-9 with two homers and four RBI, raising his average to .188.

― Evan Longoria, batting .379 in his last seven games, has three hits in his last seven at-bats against Sanchez and a .410 average in his past 11 games in Detroit.

― Cameron Maybin is 5-9 with three runs scored, three swiped bags, one RBI and two walks in his first three games of the season with the Tigers since returning from a wrist injury.

― Victor Martinez is 0-12 in his last three games, falling to a .331 average. However, he is batting .357 in 76 career games against the Rays.

― Kinsler is batting .186 with no homers in his last 10 games against Tampa Bay. Martinez is hitting .148 with one homer in his past seven matchups.

― The Rays and Tigers split their six games last season, with Detroit taking two of three at home.

 

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays cap three-game sweep of Toronto with 6-3 victory

How sweep it is! (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
How sweep it is! (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

Powered by three more homers, for an MLB-best 58 the season, the Tampa Bay Rays completed a sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday. The Rays, at 19-19, moved back to .500 after winning the first three games of an eight-game road trip.


Source: FanGraphs

Blame it on laziness ― or call it a case of an intrepid blogger who is incredibly tired ― but I won’t be recapping Wednesday night’s contest. What follows are a handful of links of others who, instead, carried the torch for me this time around. I know, I know…that came off as incredibly grandiose. I digress.

Game Recaps

Ian Malinowski/DRaysBay

Neil Solondz/Rays Radio Blog

Steve Carney/WDAE

All told, the Rays scored 31 runs (10.3 runs per game) over the set, held the Jays to 2.3 runs per game, and went 12-31 wRISP (.387).

The New What Next

After a travel day on Thursday, the Rays will begin a stretch of 20 straight games without a off-day, when they start a three-game set against the Tigers in Detroit on Friday. We’ll have the Tampa Bay/Detroit series preview ready to consume by Friday.

 

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Deja Vu in the Six; Rays win big for second straight night

Brad Miller's double scored Curt Casali and Brandon Guyer to put the Rays up, 10-2, in the seventh. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
Brad Miller’s double scored Curt Casali and Brandon Guyer to put the Rays up, 10-2, in the seventh. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
The Tampa Bay Rays continued to rack up the runs against Toronto pitching on Tuesday night, tagging Marcus Stroman with his worst start of the season in a resounding 12-2 victory over the Blue Jays. Tampa Bay has now scored at least six runs in four consecutive games, and 25 combined runs over the last two.


Source: FanGraphs

Stroman held the Rays to just four runs in 16 innings in his first two starts of the season, however, Tampa Bay ― faced with a formidable challenge ― jumped out in front in the first inning and never looked back. The rally started with two outs when Evan Longoria extended his hit streak to six games with a single to left. Two pitches later, Steve Pearce plated the first run of the contest on a double to left-center.

Still, Toronto answered in the bottom of the inning after Michael Saunders walked on seven pitches. Two batters later, Jose Bautista hammered a two-run shot to dead center off Chris Archer for a one-run advantage. That lead, however, would be short-lived.

Logan Morrison has strung together some good at-bats lately, and Tuesday night would be no different. With one out in the second, Morrison singled to left, then went to third on Kevin Kiermaier’s double to right. A slow grounder to third off the bat of Curt Casali scored Morrison, tying the game at two apiece. Brandon Guyer followed with a single to left, giving the Rays all the runs they would need on the night, but why stop there, right? Guyer swiped second to get into scoring position, and came home Brad Miller’s triple to right-center.

The Rays continued to pile on the runs in the third. Steven Souza Jr. and Corey Dickerson went back-to-back with one-out singles, putting runners at the corners. Still seeking his first RBI of the season, Morrison beat out a potential double-play ball, as Souza scored for a three-run advantage. It only took 87 at-bats for Morrison to plate his first run.

Per the Elias Sports Bureau, the Rays scored in each of the first three innings in consecutive games for the first time in franchise history.

Tampa Bay tacked on two more in the fourth. After Pearce drew a leadoff walk, then went to third on Corey Dickerson’s one-out double to left, Morrison came up with his second RBI of the season on a single to right. Kevin Kiermaier capped the inning with a run-scoring hit for a five run advantage.

Meanwhile, Archer steadied himself after a 32-pitch, two-hit, two-walk, two-run first inning. He allowed just two hits and two walks over the next five innings, throwing 73 pitches while allowing no other runs over that stretch. Overall, Archer gave up four hits and four walks while striking out seven over six innings on 105 pitches (60 strikes).

Chris still had a hard time getting started — something that’s plagued him for the majority of his nine starts. And though his plan was to be more aggressive from the first pitch, he couldn’t quite put that strategy into action. Be that as it may, he kept the Jays off balance by throwing fastballs in counts when he would normally put opposing batters away with sliders, and otherwise made the big pitch when he needed to.

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Being able to pitch five scoreless innings after how it started is something I can hang my hat on, Archer said following the game.

Tampa Bay continued to pour it on late, scoring three more runs, all after two outs against the ambidextrous switch-pitcher Pat Venditte in the seventh, thanks in part to back-to-back errors by Josh Donaldson. The second error scored a run, and Miller followed with a two-run double to the Rays up by eight.

Enny Romero followed Archer with a perfect seventh, collecting two strikeouts and a grounder. Ryan Webb took over in the eighth inning and quickly got into a scary situation when he was hit in the jaw by Jimmy Paredes’ liner. The hard shot appeared to hit Webb on his glove hand before striking his face. Webb stayed in the game, however, and got the next batter — Edwin Encarnacion — to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Taylor Motter capped the scoring with a two-run homer as a pinch-hitter before Dana Eveland tossed a perfect ninth to close things out. It was Motter’s second hit in the majors and first MLB homer.

All told, Tampa Bay collected 17 hits for the second consecutive night. The last time the Rays had at least 17 hits in back-to-back games was April 12-13, 2009, when they did it against Baltimore and New York.

The New What Next

RHP Jake Odorizzi (0-2, 3.83) will take the mound against RHP R.A. Dickey (2-4, 4.31) in the series finale. Odorizzi is winless in eight starts, matching the second-longest winless start to a season in team history. RHP Tanyon Sturtze was winless in 15 straight starts to begin the 2002 season. Dickey is 8-8 with a 4.25 ERA in 23 career games against the Rays. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 5/18/16 Starting Lineup

Guyer DH
Motter SS
Longoria 3B
Souza RF
Morrison 1B
Jennings LF
Kiermaier CF
Conger C
Beckham 2B
Odorizzi RHP

Noteworthiness

— Prior to Guyer’s second inning stolen stolen base, Stroman had allowed just two steals on the season. It was a gutsy decision by a gritty player…a decision that paid dividends.

— As for Miller, he ended the night a homer shy of the cycle. How ironic is it that Motter, who pinch hit in his spot in the order, hit a homer?

— Florida pride!