Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Finish Sox, 8-5

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The Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox clash on the field during a bench-clearing altercation during the seventh inning. (Photo courtesy of Brian Blanco/Getty Images)

The Tampa Bay Rays extended their winning streak to four games Sunday — simultaneously extending the Boston Red Sox’s losing streak to 10 in. The Rays will head to Toronto following this afternoon, ahead of a three-game set against a red-hot Blue Jays.


Source: FanGraphs

Since I’m in the midst of writing a series preview, you can read a blow-by-blow account of today’s contest at our Tumblr page. Below are some brief observations of the game.

Game Peripherals

  • Jake Odorizzi, put together a quality outing — yes! Odorizzi was great, commanding the outer portions of the zone effectively, while working through a couple of jams and ultimately limiting the Red Sox to one run. His line: 6 IP/4 H/1 ER/1 BB/5 K on 108 pitches (74 strikes, 69% K%).
  • Longo: 8-17 over the series, and 3-5 on the day with a homer, two-runs, and an RBI. Is he back?
  • Brandon Guyer again had a great day at the plate, going 2-3 with a walk and a run.
  • Oh yeah, in case you hadn’t heard, there was an on-field skirmish between the Rays and the Massholes, when Yunel Escobar stole third base uncontested. The Boston bench took exception to the play, and David Ross — who jawed off to the umpire last night — chirped at Escobar who was on third. Shortly after Ross and Escobar exchanged words and made gestures toward one another, the benches cleared and Jonny Gomes ran in from the outfield — pushing Rays third-base coach Tom Foley out of the way, and making light contact with Yuni. Players from both teams met near third base, but the situation was defused a short time later. Gomes, along with two Rays — Sean Rodriguez and Yunel Escobar — were ejected from the game. 
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Yunel Escobar, Sean Rodriguez and Jonny Gomes are ejected when benches clear after Escobar steals third base with a five-run lead. Click the photo above to be redirected to video of the incident.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Suffocate Red Sox 6-5, In Extra Innings

It's about damn time that Brandon Guyer and Logan Forsythe contributed to the cause. (Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays)
It’s about damn time that Brandon Guyer and Logan Forsythe contributed to the cause. (Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays)

It’s been said of baseball, that momentum is only as good as your next starter. The Rays started the day on a three-game winning streak, chocked full of momentum. And on paper, the pitching matchup — helmed by David Price for the Rays, and Jake Peavy for the Red Sox — favored Tampa Bay. Yet things didn’t look so hot for the Rays after the first inning. Boston tagged Price for five runs on four hits, and it appeared the Rays ace was phoning in his start. My how things changed over the span of the 15-inning contest. The Rays, slowly but surely, scratched out runs in the second, fourth, fifth, and 15th innings, clawing their way back from a five run deficit (for the first time since Game 162) to defeat Boston by a 6-5 margin in their third consecutive walk off win.


Source: FanGraphs

Truth in reporting, a complete game recap I do not have. Instead, you can read a truly bizarre recap of the extra inning contest over at DRaysBay. Dare I say it’s akin to something that Mad Max and RoboCop would team up for to write? Click the screenshot (below) to be redirected to that piece:

Click this to be redirected to DRaysBay's bizarre recap.
Click the screenshot to be redirected to DRaysBay’s bizarre recap.

I’m not that lazy, I live blogged the game at our Tumblr page. Below are some thoughts on the marathon game.

Game Peripherals

  • Despite a self induced, first-inning face punching, David Price came back to put together an incredible start. The ace kept the Rays in the game throughout his time on the bump, throwing a Juego G. worthy, 8 IP/5 H/5 ER/2 BB/7 K/115 pitch outing. Price settled down (to say the least) after the 34 pitch first, relinquishing only one hit in the following seven innings. In fact, the Red Sox were two hit from the second inning on.
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“Click it, fool!” — Mr. T
  • The tandem of Logan Forsythe and Brandon Guyer combined to go 7-12 with four RBI and a pair of runs. Weird, right?!
  • Cesar Ramos needed only 42 pitches to get the win Saturday with three shutout, one-hit innings. “The way the game was going, we could have been here all night,” said Ramos following the game.
  • Suffice it to say, home plate umpire Larry Vanover’s strike zone expanded as the game progressed. If his calls were impartial — that, is not favoring one team over the other — they wouldn’t have been so egregious. However, more often than not, Vanover’s calls benefitted the Red Sox. One need only to look at his Pitch F/X to see as much:
Calls Vs right handed hitters. Each pitch is represented by a single dot. Green dots are balls and red dots are strikes. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)
Calls vs. left handed hitters. Each pitch is represented by a single dot. Green dots are balls and red dots are strikes. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)
Calls vs. right handed hitters. Each pitch is represented by a single dot. Green dots are balls and red dots are strikes. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)
Calls vs. right handed hitters. Each pitch is represented by a single dot. Green dots are balls and red dots are strikes. (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)
  • The Rays put together their third consecutive walk off last night — their first three-game walk off streak in franchise history:

The New What Next

The good guys are now 4-1 against the Red Sox this season. Jake Odorizzi and the Rays will go for the sweep this afternoon, when they take on 25 year-old RHP Brandon Workman and the Boston Red Sox. Odorizzi gave up at least three runs in five of his first six outings. Since then, he has given up only three earned runs total while striking out 26 in his past three starts. Workman has accrued eight innings of work against Rays, with Tampa Bay touching him for four runs (all earned) on nine hits — including a James Loney homer. Key match-ups: Yunel Escobar (1-2, BB), Desmond Jennings (1-3), James Loney (2-3, HR, 3 RBI), Evan Longoria (2-4, 2B, RBI).

Rays 5/25/14 Starting Lineup

DeJesus LF
Longoria 3B
Joyce DH
Myers RF
Loney 1B
Guyer CF
Forsythe 2B
Escobar SS
Molina C
Odorizzi RHP

Noteworthiness

  • Per Marc Topkin, Erik Bedard’s contract included a consent waiver allowing the Rays to send him back to the minors within his first 45 days, a period that ends Wednesday, but his strong performance would seem to make it moot.
  • Topkin also noted, Alex Colome’s 50-game steroid suspension ended after Saturday’s games, and he is expected to join Triple-A Durham in the next few days. … Class A Charlotte had a 19-inning game Friday night, with catching prospect Jake DePew earning the win by pitching 31/3 scoreless innings in a 5-3 victory over Lakeland.
  • Zobrist took left-handed batting practice and ran the bases before Saturday’s game. He fielded grounders, Thursday and was reported to have told Maddon the soreness is decreasing.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Two Walk Offs in Two Days!

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A pre-game, warmup panorama at the Trop. Say what you will about the Trop; but now that it’s freaking 90 degrees and humid outside, am I ever content to sit in the AC!

Prior to Thursday afternoon, the 2014 Rays lacked the game ending heroics that only a walk off hit could provide. Sean Rodriguez put an end to that nasty streak with his game ending, three-run shot to left. Apparently walk off wins are akin to a spreading infection now, and we’re all better for it! Low the Rays put together their second consecutive walk off win last night, and all it took was a big pinch hit RBI double to right center off the bat of rookie infielder Cole Figueroa, plating Desmond Jennings from second. The good guys walked out of the Trop after handing those dastardly Red Sox their eighth consecutive loss.

…And it all started with Chris Archer.

It’s safe to say that Archer was good last night, his 6 IP/4 H/0 R/4 BB (1 IBB)/11 K line suggests as much. But, a couple of things stopped him from putting together a truly great outing; namely his propensity to get into deep counts (four walks, 10 three ball counts), and his inability to efficiently put away the Red Sox with two outs — Archer allowed six base runners to reach with two outs. As a result, Archer sat on a high pitch count the whole night.

The fifth inning was particularly tense. Brock Holt led things off with a 1-0 line drive double to right. Archer came back to strike out Xander Bogaerts (looking) on a fastball at the knees, and Dustin Pedroia (swinging) on a slider over the heart of the zone. With 97 pitches under his belt, it seemed as though Archer’s night was over. After all, there was a runner in scoring position, Brad Boxberger was warming in the ‘pen, and Big Papi was making his way into the batter’s box. Instead, Maddon kept Archer in the game and called for an intentional walk of David Ortiz — a move which makes sense on paper, if nothing else (Ortiz has a .388 wOBA against Archer). Napoli, who’s put up a .303 wOBA against Archer, came to the plate and reached for the second pitch he saw — smacking an inning ending, low liner just a step Yunel Escobar’s left.

The running assumption, the fifth inning would be Archer’s last. Yet Joe Maddon sent him back out for the sixth inning with 103 pitches under his belt. Archer responded with a clean 16 pitch frame. Credit where it’s due, the Rays righty was able to make the big pitch when the Red Sox threatened wRISP; striking out Mike Napoli in the first inning, inducing a popper to center out of Brock Holt  in the second, and coaxing the aforementioned low liner out of Napoli in the fifth.

John Lackey was just as effective last night, presumably because he pitched with his mouth closed. The Cro-magnon like hurler induced a ton of weak contact, tossing a shutout into the eighth inning. As Ian Malinoski of DRaysBay asserts,

“Archer’s ability to pitch the sixth inning proved crucial, because Maddon, with no room for error, was able to turn the game over to the back-end of the Rays bullpen, bringing Jake McGee in to pitch the seventh, Joel Peralta in for the eighth, and Juan Carlos Oviedo for the ninth. They each responded, with McGee working and Peralta working 1-2-3 innings, and Oviedo pitching around a leadoff single. That set the stage for the heroics in the bottom of the ninth.”

John Farrell played the match-up game instead, putting Tazawa in the game to face Evan Longoria, then replacing him with Brad Miller to get the final two outs of the eighth inning. Miller came back in the ninth and issued a one-out walk to Desmond Jennings, bringing Sean Rodriguez to the plate. Farrell, fearing the mighty presence of SeanRod, pulled Miller in favor of Burke Badenhop. Maddon corresponded by pinching Rodriguez in favor of rookie lefty Cole Figueroa. The Red Sox were very concerned with Jennings at first, and rightly so — he stole second on a pitch out. Badenhop challenged Figueroa with an 0-2 fastball over the heart of the plate, and he smacked it to the right-center gap, giving the Rays their second walk off in as many days.

Figgy and the second base scrum! (Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays)
Figgy and the second base scrum! (Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays)

The New What Next

David Price will attempt to bounce back from a rather meh outing Sunday. He’ll be opposed by the tough righty (at least on Tampa Bay), Jake Peavy. The Rays have been able to tag Peavy with four homers in just over 20 innings of work. You can read about the matchup in our series preview.

Rays 5/24/14 Starting Lineup

DeJesus DH
Longoria 3B
Joyce RF
Loney 1B
Guyer LF
Jennings CF
Forsythe 2B
Escobar SS
Molina C
Price LHP

Noteworthiness

  • In the post game interview, Cole Figueroa told Todd Kalas that Evan Longoria gave him a piece of advice prior to his at-bat. Longo noted that Badenhop might try to sneak a fastball in on him if he got ahead in the count 0-2. He went into things looking for that pitch.
  • In the ninth inning, with the slow-footed (and blonde highlighted) AJ Pierzynski on first, Shane Victorino laid down a nice bunt down the third base line. Longoria anticipated as much, fielding the bunt quickly and firing the ball to second to get the lead runner.
  • Womp womp…Shane Victorino appeared to tweak his hamstring running to first base on the above mentioned play, and was pulled for a pinch runner (Jonny Gomes).
  • Starting with the 2008 season, the Rays and Reds have the most walk off wins in the majors, at 60. Next are the Braves at 59, and the Marlins and Dodgers at 58.

Rays 5/23/14 Starting Lineup, Etc

This idiot and his crew come into town Friday for a three-game series.
This idiot and his crew come into town Friday for a three-game series.

Rays 5/23/14 Starting Lineup

DeJesus DH
Longoria 3B
Joyce LF
Myers RF
Loney 1B
Jennings CF
Rodriguez 2B
Escobar SS
Hanigan C
Archer RHP

Noteworthiness

The hot dog made a daring escape over the outfield wall as it was being chased by the Green Tea bottle.
The hot dog made a daring escape over the outfield wall as it was being chased by the Green Tea bottle.

The New What Next: Rays vs Red Sox — The Battle For Last

This is how you walk it off. (Photo and caption courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays)
This is how you walk it off. (Photo and caption courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays)

The Tampa Bay Rays are coming off a huge 5-2 win, by way of a series loss, against the Oakland Athletics. And though the Rays dropped the first two games to the red hot Athletics, two very important things happened; the good guys were able to beat a team with its undisputed ace on the mound, and they were able to limit the league’s highest scoring team to eight runs total. That is, the pitching may have finally stabilized. Moving forward, the wayward Red Sox make their way into the Trop Friday for a three-game set.

Much like the Rays, the Boston Red Sox are scuffling. Sitting two games over Tampa Bay, Boston (20-26) is in the throes of a six game losing streak. The struggling pitching staff has put pressure on the lineup to produce, meanwhile the bat heavy lineup averaged just 3.3 runs per game in their series against the Blue Jays. The Red Sox have been outscored 37-16 during their slump, having scored more than three runs only twice in that stretch. To add insult to injury, the starting rotation has an 8.89 ERA over a five game span.

Chris Archer will take the mound against John Lackey in the first game of the series. Saturday’s 5-1/3 inning outing halted a four start stretch, where Lackey went 3-0 with a 2.17 ERA — Including an April 29th start against Tampa Bay where he went eight solid innings innings in a 7-4 win against Tampa Bay. Prior to that fateful outing, the Rays touched the mouth breathing pitcher for a 1-2 record over his last four starts, with an 8.84 ERA (including the playoffs). Jake Peavy will get the start against David Price in Saturday’s contest. The Sox are 1-3 in Peavy’s last four starts, including a 2-1 loss to the Rays on May 1st. Though Peavy pitched well in that game, he’s given up five or more runs in two-out-of-three subsequent outings.

Per Reuters, “The Rays had scored four times during a four-game losing streak before matching that in the 11th on Thursday, capped by Sean Rodriguez’s three-run blast, to beat red-hot Oakland 5-2. Tampa Bay All-Star Evan Longoria, batting only .191 since April 25, started the rally with a single. Boston slugger David Ortiz has 11 homers, but comes in 0-for-15 in his last four games with zero RBIs in seven.”

Rays and Red Sox series starters.
Rays and Red Sox series starters.
Rays and Red Sox offensive production at home, away, and overall.
Rays and Red Sox offensive production at home, away, and overall.
Rays and Red Sox, by the numbers.
Rays and Red Sox, by the numbers.

John Lackey: As I wrote at the end of April, You know what to expect out of Lackey: poorly located fastballs and hittable cutters, and a put away curve-ball. Key match-ups: David DeJesus (6-26, 2 RBI), Yunel Escobar (8-18, 2 2B, RBI, 3 BB), Matt Joyce (7-22, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB), James Loney (5-19, 2B, HR, 3 RBI), Evan Longoria (10-34, 3 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 BB), Sean Rodriguez (2-5) Ben Zobrist (11-27, 3 2B, 4 RBI, 5 BB).

Jake Peavy: Again, as I wrote in April, the Rays have been able to touch Peavy in the past, cranking four homers off the 31 year-old righty over in his last 20 innings of work against Tampa Bay. Key match-ups: Ryan Hanigan (1-3), James Loney (10-33, 5 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 BB), Wil Myers (1-4, RBI, BB), Sean Rodriguez (2-4), Ben Zobrist (4-13, 2 2B, HR, 2 RBI, BB).

Noteworthiness

  • Sean Rodriquez leads the Rays in homers with five, despite only 68 at-bats in 27 games.
  • Boston is 15-1 when leading after six innings and has won only twice in 23 games when trailing going into the seventh.

I’ll post more in a bit.