The Tampa Bay Rays’ battery took a beating in the third inning of Tuesday night’s game against the Boston Red Sox, losing both Jake Faria and Wilson Ramos in a matter of minutes.
Faria left the game when he suffered a strained left oblique in an at-bat that was punctuated by a swinging strikeout of Andrew Benintendi. After he tried to convince Rays skipper Kevin Cash and Head Athletic Trainer, Joe Benge that he was fine, the right-hander had to be removed.
#Rays Cash said Faria needs to get checked out first but “he’s going to miss some time.”
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) May 23, 2018
Beyond the initial in-game diagnosis, the team has not announced any roster moves, although it is likely that Faria will spend some time on the disabled list. For context, former Ray Jake Odorizzi was placed on the 15-day DL in 2015 because of a mild to moderate oblique strain. Odorizzi missed nearly a month with that injury. Nathan Eovaldi (elbow, rib) is expected to make one more tune-up start on Wednesday before rejoining the big league squad as early as the weekend. He would be the likeliest candidate to replace Faria on the roster should he be added to the DL.
Austin Pruitt entered the game in relief of Faria, and two batters later — in a bout of wildness — he bounced one in the dirt that skipped off the dirt and hit Wilson Ramos square on the top of his left hand.
Ramos was clearly in discomfort, and was pulled shortly thereafter. The injury appeared to be in a place where there are plenty of small bones, but also a significant amount of soft tissue — in similar spot to where he was hit in Anaheim. Ramos told the media, after the game, that the base of thumb/hand was numb earlier, but he is starting to get the feeling back. Even though it is swollen, he is confident the injury isn’t more notable than a contusion, and that he won’t need to go on DL.
In the midst of all the doom and gloom that permeated the injury-plagued third inning, there was a moment of brightness when Willy Adames, who was promoted to the big leagues this afternoon — and arrived at the ball-park just 30-minutes before first pitch — stepped into the batter’s box for his second at-bat.
Chris Sale left a 90 mph 1-0 slider over the heart of the plate, which Adames turned on and sent to the ball’s rightful home in left field.
Wow, what a moonshot by Willy Adames for his first MLB home run… and off Chris Sale! pic.twitter.com/vEbSJqEvPE
— David Adler (@_dadler) May 23, 2018
Adames became the fifth Ray to hit a home run in his first career game — the first since Brandon Guyer (May 6, 2011 in Baltimore), and the first player to ever hit a homer in his first career game at Tropicana Field.