Nick Anderson was impressive in his Rays’ debut against Boston last night. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
The Tampa Bay Rays swept the Boston Red Sox last night, punctuating the three-game set with a 9-4 win in the series finale. In doing so, the Rays became the first away team to win eight games in a season at Fenway Park since the 1966 Orioles.
At the end of the day, the Rays exited Fenway with their second sweep of the season in Boston, 3-1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox in the AL East, 1/2 game up on Oakland for the last Wildcard spot, and 1-1/2 games behind Cleveland for the first Wildcard spot. It was the team’s first three-game sweep at Fenway since 2010. I’d call that a success.
Both Jesus Aguilar and Nick Anderson made their debuts last night, and both were pretty impressive. Aguilar reached base four times (two singles and two walks) while Anderson lit up the radar gun in the eighth inning, allowing one hit while fanning two.
Per FanGraphs, the Rays improved their chances of a postseason berth by 6.3% with last night’s win over the Red Sox, whose chances of making the playoffs have dropped precipitously. Baseball Prospectus gives Tampa Bay a 76.7% chance of reaching the playoffs, and Boston just a 23.3% chance.
After today’s rare off-day (Oakland, also has the day off), the Rays will play host to the Marlins in for a two-game set before Blue Jays come in for three. The Rays have a chance to make hay in the month of August. They play only five games against +.500 teams (Houston and Cleveland at the end of the month) and can make up all the ground they lost in June and July, and then some.
Links For Finks
— Craig Edwards (FanGraphs) writes Second Wild Card Didn’t Ruin the Trade Deadline.
— Juan Toribio (MLB.com) listed four takeaways from the Rays’ deadline moves.
— Nick Anderson not only boasts an explosive fastball but his 85 mph “curveball” might be his best pitch, writes Danny Russell (DRaysBay).
— Speaking of new Ray Nick Anderson, the hurler surprised himself with 99 mph heat, writes Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times).
Not gonna lie, I was telling everybody not to expect that number on the board every time. I kind of surprised myself a little bit,” Anderson said. “It was awesome to get out there for the Rays and out there with the guys and try to do the best I could do.
Honestly, I don’t really know. I was feeling a little tired. Maybe it was the couple of energy drinks to try and wake me up. … Kind of locked it in and just tried to stay relaxed and usually good things happen for me when I stay relaxed and let my mechanics go through how they’re supposed to be.
When I looked up and saw 98 a couple of times and then I saw 99, I’m like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on today.’ So I was joking around and telling everybody I don’t normally throw that hard.
— Nick Anderson