Austin Pruitt, yes…Austin Pruitt, stymied Cleveland’s offense across 5-1/3 innings, while Tampa Bay broke open a scoreless game in the seventh as the Rays cruised to a 4-0 win on Friday. After relinquishing seven or more runs in five consecutive games, the Rays threw a shutout at Tropicana Field to open a key series against Cleveland.
The Rays enter play Saturday one game behind Oakland for the final Wildcard spot and 1-1/2 back of Cleveland for the top Wildcard spot. After dropping to a 47.5% chance of a postseason berth (per FanGraphs) Tampa Bay has seen a 4.8% increase in its favor thanks to the two consecutive wins.
Austin Pruitt got the start because the Rays had used seven pitchers against Houston the day before. Contrary to his season numbers, “Cy” Pruitt set the tone with the best outing of his big league career. Pruitt surrendered four hits while striking out six across 5-1/3 scoreless frames. The right-hander threw 52 of 77 pitches for strikes (68% strike rate) as well as 14 of 20 first-pitch strikes while coaxing 11 swinging strikes. He lowered his ERA by almost a full point — from 5.57 to 4.78 — and now carries a 1.27 WHIP and a 3.67 K/BB over 37-2/3 on the season. Color me surprised … I’ll take it.
Meanwhile, Shane Bieber matched Pruitt pitch-for-pitch before the seventh inning — and no, I never thought I’d compare Pruitt to a Cy Young Award contender, yet here we are. I digress. Eric Sogard led off the game with a base hit against Bieber, however, the right-hander picked off Sogard to end the frame, starting a stretch of 12 consecutive outs before Ji-Man Choi singled to left in the fifth inning.
In that inning, Joey Wendle drove a ball to the opposite field corner, but Tyler Naquin made a tremendous catch to save a run and an extra-base hit.
Naquin left the game with a right knee sprain.
Yet two innings later, Tampa Bay took advantage of its first true scoring chance to get all it needed. Austin Meadows lined a single to right off Bieber, and on a hit-and-run on the next pitch, Travis d’Arnaud hit a bloop single to center, moving Meadows up to third. After Choi went down swinging on a 2-2 pitch in the dirt, Avisail Garcia lined a bullet through the left side, scoring Meadows for the go-ahead lead and chasing Bieber.
Right-hander Adam Cimber came on in relief of Bieber and got Wendle to hit a slow comebacker, moving both runners into scoring position. Jesus Aguilar followed, working the count to 1-1 before he sent a hanging slider into the left-field seats for a four-run advantage.
It was Aguilar’s 10th homer of the season, and second with Tampa Bay.
That put Oliver Drake, who took over for Pruitt, on the winning side of the ledger. Drake entered the game one out in the sixth and got the next five outs, allowing just an infield hit to Franmil Reyes.
In the eighth inning, Colin Poche walked the leadoff batter — his sixth free pass in two days — before he got Francisco Lindor to ground into a 5-4-3 double play. The southpaw also coaxed a fly-ball out for a scoreless frame.
Finally, Andrew Kittredge walked leadoff batter Carlos Santana in the ninth inning, but Yasiel Puig hit into a 6-3 double play before Jason Kipnis flew out to center, ending the game.
The New What Next
Diego Castillo (2-8, 3.76 ERA) will open the ballgame and will be followed by Jalen Beeks (5-3, 4.55 ERA). They’ll be opposed by Zach Plesac (7-4, 3.40 ERA).
Diego Castillo allowed one run on three hits while striking out two over two innings on Sunday against the Orioles. Castillo gave up an RBI single in the first inning, and he’d ultimately was tagged with the loss in an 8-3 series finale. The right-hander owns a 3.48 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP with a 2.86 K/BB over 51-2/3 innings this season, although he’s surrendered three runs over his last two appearances (three innings).
Jalen Beeks allowed seven earned runs on 11 hits (including two homers) and two walks while striking out six across five innings against the Orioles on Monday. Beeks entered the game in the third inning and immediately found himself in trouble, allowing four two-out runs on a walk, three singles, and a double. Things didn’t get much better in the following frame, as Beeks allowed two more runs on a walk, a base hit, a double, and a homer. Baltimore tacked on one last run against the left-hander before Kevin Cash had seen enough. Beeks has faltered since the All-Star break, as his ERA has ballooned from 2.79 to 4.55 in eight appearances.
Zach Plesac allowed one run on four hits and two walks while striking out five over 5-2/3 innings on Friday against the Royals. Plesac pitched well, surrendering his lone run in the sixth inning on an RBI triple. He missed a quality start by an out. The right-hander owns a 3.40 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP with 66 punchouts across 87-1/3 innings this season. Plesac relies primarily on a 94 mph four-seam fastball and a firm 86 mph changeup, while also mixing in an 85 mph 12-6 slider and a 79 mph worm killer curveball with 12-6 movement.
You can read about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup and Noteworthiness are below.
Rays 8/31/19 Starting Lineup
- Sogard 2B
- Pham LF
- Meadows DH
- d’Arnaud C
- Choi 1B
- Garcia RF
- Kiermaier CF
- Duffy 3B
- Adames SS
Noteworthiness
— Regardless of the outcome in tonight’s ballgame, the Rays will finish the month of August with a plus .500 record.
— Great news on the Tyler Glasnow rehab front:
Glasnow is likely to pitch two innings for Durham on Monday and then could pitch for Tampa Bay four or five days later.
— The Rays have added Pete Fairbanks, Hoby Milner, Nate Lowe, Michael Perez, and Daniel Robertson to the taxi squad in advance of September call ups tomorrow.
— The Rays are offering free tickets to Sunday’s ballgame for Floridians displaced from the east coast due to Hurricane Dorian. Their sister team, the Rowdies, are doing the same tonight. Details can be found in the link below:
— The team is still considering schedule options for the series against Baltimore, currently slated for Monday-through-Wednesday, based on the hurricane forecast. They could play a doubleheader on Tuesday (and have Wednesday off).
— Wednesday’s home game against the Orioles has been rescheduled for Tuesday as part of a single-admission doubleheader, beginning at 3:10 p.m.
More information will follow shortly.