Tampa Bay took an early lead in the first inning after Logan Forsythe doubled to left off Tyler Chatwood, went to third on a groundout Brad Miller, then scored on Evan Longoria’s single to right.
The Rays expanded their lead to six with a five-run third. The rally started when Chatwood walked Oswaldo Arcia on four pitches. After Blake Snell struck out trying to bunt Arcia to second in his first Major League at-bat, Forsythe collected his second double of the game — an RBI double to left, scoring Arcia from first. Miller joined in on the fun with an RBI double of his own, putting the Rays up by three. They weren’t done.
Making up for their inability to score runs when they needed to the previous night, Longoria hammered a 462-foot homer into the parking lot of Coors Field, his 22nd of the season.
.@Evan3Longoria‘s 462-foot home run one-hopped into the Coors Field parking lot. #RaysUphttps://t.co/nazRLCrAWX
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 20, 2016
Exacting some revenge on the Rockies for trading him, Corey Dickerson singled to right, then scored on (you guessed it) a two-out double to right by Kevin Kiermaier, capping the five-run rally.
Tampa Bay plated another run in the fourth after Arcia singled and Snell walked, subsequently chasing Chatwood. Snell’s plate appearance was pretty impressive for someone stepping into the batter’s box for the second time in his Major League career. After making an awkward stab/bunt attempt at the first pitch, Snell took three straight balls before swinging through a pitch and fouling off a high fastball, running the count full. The lefty earned a walk on the very next pitch.
Arcia eventually scored on Miller’s two-out single off reliever Jordan Lyles, stretching the lead to seven.
The Rays capped their scoring with three, two-out runs in the final frame of the contest. Dickerson collected his third hit of the night — an RBI double into the right-field corner — that scored Miller, who walked on four pitches two batters prior. Four pitches later, Steve Pearce crushed a two-run homer to left, his 10th of the season.
On the other side of the coin Snell put together an excellent start, setting a career high with nine strikeouts. Even though he walked three batters, his only other blemish was a fourth inning grounder up the middle by Charlie Blackmon. In that particular at-bat, along with the three plate appearances that resulted in walks, Snell was visibly frustrated by the temporary lapses in his fastball command. Thankfully none of those self inflicted wounds came back to haunt him.
Overall, Snell tossed six innings of scoreless baseball. The southpaw attacked the Rockies with fastballs — both up and down in the zone — and a whiffy slider that broke below the zone, while also mixing in a handful of mid-80’s changeups. Even though he said he wouldn’t lean on his excellent 12-6 curveball, due to the way the altitude might play on the action of the pitch, he ultimately mixed in a couple effective hooks later in the outing.
Matt Andriese followed and earned the save by going three innings. Andriese was a touch shaky, allowing a handful of hits including a ninth inning homer off the bat of Trevor Story. However, seeing that he hadn’t taken the mound in nine days, his shakiness could be attributed to a touch of rust.
The New What Next
The Rays will try to win their first post All-Star Break series on Wednesday afternoon, when Chris Archer (4-13, 4.68 ERA) toes the rubber opposite of lefty Jorge de la Rosa (6-6, 5.50 ERA). Archer put down the first seven Orioles on Friday, but still ended up with his 13th loss. He has lost six consecutive decisions, and nine of 10.
If you’re Pedro Martinez or John Smoltz, you think the reason for Archer’s lack of success in 2016 is an issue with his glove separation.
[youtube_sc url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH3vRPQG6h0&feature=youtu.be”]
I’d argue a quirk in his glove separation may exacerbate the problem, which is a lack of fastball command, however, stit isn’t the only problem.
de la Rosa is 4-2 with a 2.68 ERA in six starts since moving back into rotation on June 14th. He gave up two runs on eight hits and three walks over six innings on Friday, striking out two. He is 1-1 with a 10.13 ERA in two starts against Tampa Bay (last start in June 2009).
You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 7/20/16 Starting Lineup
Forsythe 2B
Guyer CF
Longoria 3B
Pearce 1B
Souza Jr. RF
Dickerson LF
Beckham SS
Casali C
Archer RHP
Noteworthiness
— Looking for something to do this afternoon? Join us at the Hanger Restaurant and Flight Lounge for a Rays watch party presented by Baseball Forever. You can find out more information here.
— According to Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) the decision to create roster space for Steve Pearce’s return by sending down INF Nick Franklin, rather than, say, INF Tim Beckham, appeared rooted in playing time.
In short, Franklin will get more of it with Triple-A Durham, including additional work in the outfield to continue his development into a superutility player, than he would in the majors, especially with Pearce and Kiermaier back.
“Right now we’re getting a little crunched in the outfield, and finding him time in the infield would be difficult, also,” Cash said.
— If you’re keeping track, Tampa Bay now must go 50-19 (.724 baseball) from here on out for Evan Longoria and company to have a shot at an AL wildcard berth.