The Rays hit four homers last night, including a solo shot by Ji-Man Choi, en route to a 9-6 win over Cleveland. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
After a 9-6 win over Cleveland last night, the Tampa Bay Rays will go for a three-game sweep on Sunday with Charlie Morton on the mound. The Rays can move in front of Cleveland for the top Wildcard spot with a win.
The Rays enter play tied with Oakland, a half-game behind Cleveland entering the day. Because of Tampa Bay’s win, and the Athletics’ loss, the Rays improved their chances of a playoff berth by 11.9% per FanGraphs, which has them at 64.2%. Baseball Prospectus has Tampa Bay at a less favorable 62.9% chance, although that’s still better than a coin flip.
Ji-Man Choi, Tommy Pham, Avisail Garcia, and Travis d’Arnaud all went yard en route to the 9-6 win over Cleveland, which ended up being much closer than it should have been.
Tampa Bay maintained a 9-2 score until the eighth inning when relative newcomer Ricardo Pinto relinquished a pair of runs on Francisco Lindor’s two-run homer to right. Then in the ninth inning, Pinto gave up a two-run, one-out double to Greg Allen, chasing the right-hander and forcing Kevin Cash to call upon the services of Emilio Pagan for the final two outs of the ballgame.
Tampa Bay’s defense also flashed some run-saving leather with Jalen Beeks on the mound.
While Beeks scattered four hits over three scoreless frames, striking out one and walking none, Cleveland hit the left-hander hard yet, thankfully, within the range of Tampa Bay’s defenders.
The New What Next
Charlie Morton (13-6, 3.11 ERA) will get a shot at redemption in the series finale, pitching opposite of Adam Plutko (6-3, 4.34 ERA).
Charlie Morton was ambushed by his former team, coughing up six runs on seven hits and two walks across four innings. He struck out four. Uncle Charlie got through the first two frames unscathed before Houston’s offense erupted; five of the seven hits Morton allowed went for extra bases. On a more positive note, Morton reached 200 strikeouts for the second consecutive season. Still, in his one start this year against Cleveland, Morton fanned 10 across six innings, allowing just one run. The right-hander carries a respectable 3.11 ERA and a 4.28 K/BB through 165 innings on the season.
Adam Plutko gave up one run on three hits over 5-2/3 innings against Detroit on Tuesday. He struck out nine and walked two. Plutko recorded the first two outs of the sixth inning before he was pulled at 107 pitches after allowing a single. The 27-year-old maintains a 4.34 ERA, a 1.14 WHIP, and 4 K/BB across 83 innings. Plutko is 0-1 with an 11.81 ERA in one career start (5-1/3 innings) against the Rays. Key Matchups: Willy Adames (3-3, 2B, HR, RBI), Ji-Man Choi (1-3), Avisail Garcia (1-3, HR, RBI, BB), Kevin Kiermaier (2-3, HR, 3 RBI), Tommy Pham (1-2, HR, RBI)
You can read about the series in our preview, while the starting lineup and Noteworthiness are below.
Rays 9/1/19 Starting Lineup
- Sogard 2B
- Meadows RF
- Pham LF
- Choi 1B
- Wendle 3B
- Adames SS
- Kiermaier CF
- N. Lowe DH
- Zunino C
Noteworthiness
— Rosters expand today. Pitchers Hoby Milner and Peter Fairbanks, and position players Nate Lowe, Michael Perez, and Daniel Robertson will be promoted from Triple-A Durham. That will give Tampa Bay a 30-play roster, with the ability to expand to as many as 40 this month. As Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) wrote, it’s the last year where your roster can go beyond 28 in the final month
Other farmhands are likely to be called up over the next week or so in what manager Kevin Cash called an “all hands on deck” approach to the final month of play, including pitchers Anthony Banda, Jose De Leon, Brendan McKay, and Aaron Slegers, as well as position players Mike Brosseau and Guillermo Heredia.
— Tyler Glasnow (forearm strain) could rejoin the Rays by the end of this week if his second rehab outing goes as well as his first did on Friday. Glasnow was clocked as high as 98 mph in his eight-pitch outing and threw 12 more pitches in the bullpen afterward. The Rays skipper said that Glasnow will throw two innings for Durham on Monday, then could pitch next for the big league squad if,
It looks good, he feels good, everybody is in agreement, then maybe slot him in four-five days later.
— Kevin Cash
— Brendan McKay, who is also in line to return soon, had a solid showing for Durham on Saturday, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out eight, with 39 of his 53 pitches going for strikes (74% strike rate).