Opening Day paint behind home plate. (Photo Credit: Bay News 9)

I love the Gin Blossoms, and not in an ironic or guilty pleasure sort of way. As I rode my bike down the Pinellas Trail, and toward Tropicana Field, yesterday afternoon, a Gin Blossoms-like mantra for the Tampa Bay Rays 2018 campaign popped into my head:

If you don’t expect too much from me, you might not be let down.

See, when the expectations are lowered, it’s a little easier to sit back and enjoy the ride. And with that, I entered the Trop for Opening Day 2018.

I found my seat just as the ceremonial hoopla was settling down. Chris Archer, making his fourth straight Opening Day start, eventually took the mound and delivered a first pitch fastball to Mookie Betts, which was hammered to the triangle in centerfield into Outlaw territory.

Kevin Kiermaier tracked the ball and made a running and leaping catch at the wall.

The start of Kiermaier’s third Gold Glove campaign is underway!

After 11 more pitches, Archer put Boston to sleep in the top of the first in efficient fashion — notching a swinging strikeout of Hanley Ramirez along the way.

Yet the top of the second inning didn’t start off so hot for Tampa Bay, as the $100-million man, J.D. Martinez, worked a full count walk, Xander Bogaerts lined a double to left-center, and miscommunication between Denard Span and Kevin Kiermaier — resulting in an inside the park home run by Eduardo Nunez — found the Rays in a quick three-run hole.

Then on the other side of the plate, the Rays couldn’t get anything started against Red Sox ace Chris Sale, managing just one hit over the first six innings. Aside from a two-out rally in the bottom of the second, where Denard Span (walk) and Adeiny Hechavarria (single) found themselves in scoring position after a passed ball with Daniel Robertson at the plate, the Rays didn’t mount another threat until the eighth. Robertson struck out looking at a 95 mph fastball to end the second.

If you don’t expect too much from me, you might not be let down.

Yet Archer settled down and cruised through the next four frames, holding the score at 3-0. The right-hander efficiently carved through Boston’s lineup — at one point retiring eight consecutive batters — by forcing contact as opposed to depending solely upon the strikeout. That’s not to say the punch outs didn’t come, because they did — he racked up six on the day.

Archer even started what appeared to be a trend in the first inning, throwing a changeup which set up a slider for a strikeout. He, however, only threw two more on the day. While a handful of changeups could have effectively setup his slider — as it had in the first — and kept Boston’s hitters off his fastball, the lack of a third pitch set up a third time through the order penalty for Archer.

Kevin Cash decided to send the right-hander out for the seventh, given Archer’s low pitch count (under 80 pitches), but it didn’t take long for the skipper to pull him in Favor of Austin Pruitt. Bogaerts and Rafael Devers tagged the ace for back-to-back doubles, consequently extending Boston’s lead to four.

Yet Pruitt, perhaps surprisingly, shut the door on the Red Sox in relief, coaxing a pair of ground outs sandwiched around an infield pop up. Then in the eighth, Pruitt worked around a Betts single and a Ramirez walk to keep the game within reach. Most notably, Wilson Ramos caught Betts leaning and gunned him down at first.

If you don’t expect too much from me, you might not be let down.

The table was set for a comeback of epic proportions, and the bottom of the eighth was going to be the time to make a move.

Robertson led off the inning with the walk against Joe Kelly. After Rob Refsnyder struck out looking on four pitches, Matt Duffy took a fastball to right field for a double, driving in the first run of the year for the Rays.

Next, with one out and down by three, Kiermaier and Carlos Gomez worked back-to-back free passes, loading the bases and chasing Kelly. Boston’s skipper Alex Cora called upon Carson Smith, who quickly walked Brad Miller — driving home a run putting the Rays down by just a pair.

Unfortunately Ramos did the opposite of what he was acquired to do with the bases loaded, and went down swinging for the second out of the inning. Be that as it may, the strikeout scripted the perfect situation for Span, the hometown kid who enabled the inside the park homer in the second inning.

Span worked the count full before he pulled a fastball down the right field line, pulling into third base and giving the Rays a one-run lead.

A bouncer over the mound from Hechavarria brought home Span and put the Rays up by two, capping the scoring.

Alex Colome entered the game with a two-run cushion which allowed fans to breathe a little easier given how many times he, uhh … made things a little too interesting last season. Colome worked around a hard-hit, two-out double by Nunez in the ninth to earn his first save of the year.

Just check out that wild ride!


Source: FanGraphs

The New What Next

Blake Snell will toe the rubber for the Rays on Friday, pitching against former ace David Price in a battle of southpaws.

A tale of two halves would be the best way to describe Snell’s 2017 campaign. The left-hander compiled a 4.85 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP in 52 first-half innings, then turned in a 3.49 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in the second half. Mechanical and placement adjustments on the rubber were catalysts that drove the positive results. Snell’s secondary offerings — slider, curveball and changeup — all have great whiff rates, with the first two sitting over 20%. His Fastball strike rate remained the same over both halves, although his BB/9 plummeted from 5.7% to 3.2%, and his whiff rate rose over 3%. If the second half of 2017 is indicitive of anything, Snell is ready to push himself up the ranks of a top-20 starter.

The former Ray was known as one of the best workhorses in the big leagues prior to 2017, notching 200+ innings in six of the past seven seasons (186-2/3 innings in 2013 with Tampa Bay being the sole exception). However, Price started last season with a mysterious arm injury, then was placed on the DL with elbow inflammation leading to the “injury prone” label which found him in the bullpen. Price returned from his malaise pumping 94.9 mph as a reliever and looking very much like the ace of old. If Price can become more consistent with his sinker, while also maintaining his fastball velocity, there is a solid chance he can return to the upper levels of the starting pitcher landscape. Key Matchups: Adeiny Hechavarria (2-7), Kevin Kiermaier (2-8, 2B, HR, RBI), Wilson Ramos (1-3) 

You can read more about the series in our preview.

Rays 3/30/18 Starting Lineup

Duffy 3B
Kiermaier CF
Gomez RF
Cron DH
Ramos C
Miller 1B
Hechavarria SS
Robertson 2B
Refsnyder LF
Snell LHP

Noteworthiness

— Per Neil Solondz (Rays Radio), yesterday’s come from behind victory was big for a couple of reasons:

1. The comeback from 4–0 down matched the franchise’s largest comeback win ever on Opening Day. The other one also happened against the Red Sox in 2003.

2. Tampa Bay won just five times last year when trailing after seven innings, and the six-run inning at home was the team’s largest at Tropicana Field since the season finale in 2015.

— Ouch! Former face of the franchise, Evan Longoria, went 0-4 with three strikeouts in his regular season debut with San Francisco. Meanwhile Logan Morrison went 0-3 with a strikeout and a walk. On the pitching side of things, Jake Odorizzi threw six shutout innings of two-hit ball, while walking two and fanning seven.

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