With the 2020 season on hold due to the COVID-19 outbreak, I thought it would be apropos to recap the ball-games replayed on Rays Rewind in Primetime, courtesy of Fox Sports Sun.

Without further ado, here is the recap from Tampa Bay’s 5-2 win over San Francisco, on April 5, 2019, with a few minor updates of the original. Note: since we did not recap the series finale vs. San Francisco — favoring instead the series preview of the Rays/ChiSox series — we will recap Tampa Bay’s 5-1 win in Chicago on April 8, 2019, on Friday.

Number three starter, Tyler Glasnow, tossed six terrific innings on Friday in the first road game of the season, as the Tampa Bay Rays held on to beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-2. The Rays are off to a 6-2 start to the 2019 season.

The Rays got off to a quick start, hitting a string of four consecutive extra-base hits — two doubles followed by two home runs — with two outs in the top of the first. Ji-Man Choi started the rally against Dereck Rodriguez with a double to left field. Brandon Lowe followed with a double of his own, to right field, on an 0-2 pitch, putting Tampa Bay on the board. Yandy Diaz was next, hitting a strong-man broken-bat homer (his second of the season) to left on a 1-2 pitch.

Kevin Kiermaier capped the rally with a 437-foot blast to deep right-center, putting the Rays up by four. It was The Outlaw’s second homer this season.

Glasnow went to work in the bottom of the frame, with a plate appearance by the former face of the franchise, Evan Longoria, looming in the hole. The right-hander quickly disposed of the first two batters on five pitches, bringing Longoria to the plate.

Glasnow promptly got ahead in the count before he spotted up a well-placed curveball on the inner third of the plate, locking up Longoria.

The first at-bat against the former face of the franchise culminated in a punch-out, as the 1-2-3 first set the tone for the afternoon against the tall right-hander.

All told, Glasnow scattered three singles and allowed a walk, while striking out six. He threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of 23 batters (74% first-pitch strike rate), and 59 of 82 pitches overall for strikes (72% strike rate).

Favoring a fastball (51 thrown, 38 strikes, 6 whiffs)/curveball (25 thrown, 19 strikes, 4 whiffs) combination, Glasnow allowed runners to get into scoring position just twice across two innings. In the second, he loaded the bases with two outs but got Rodriguez to ground to first. Then in the sixth, Glasnow struck out Brandon Crawford looking with Brandon Belt at second.

The Rays tacked on a run in the seventh after Michael Perez doubled off Travis Bergen. Later that inning, Perez came around to score on Austin Meadows’ double off Nick Vincent, capping the scoring for Tampa Bay.

Yet the Giants made things interesting late in the game. San Francisco plated two runs in the seventh, tagging Wilmer Font with a pair of two-out RBI doubles from pinch-hitter Pablo Sandoval and Steven Duggar. However, Rays manager Kevin Cash called on Adam Kolarek (for the left-on-left matchup), who got Belt to bounce out to short, limiting the damage.

Then in the eighth, a Lowe error (the second of the day and the season for Tampa Bay), Buster Posey’s double to right, and a Crawford hit by pitch loaded the bases with none out. Kolarek caught Gerardo Parra looking for the first out of the frame before Cash called upon Diego Castillo.

Four pitches later, Castillo got Kevin Pillar to ground to Robertson — who entered the game in the double switch — into a 6-4-3 twin killing, ending the threat.

Finally, in the ninth, Jose Alvarado allowed what was ruled an infield hit by Joe Panik which Yandy Diaz couldn’t handle cleanly at third. Diaz dropped the ball upon the transfer, allowing Panic to reach. Then pinch-hitter Yangervis Solarte walked on five pitches, bringing the tying run to the plate. Duggar grounded into a fielder’s choice with Solarte forced at second for the first out, yet Duggar moved into second on a wild pitch. However, Alvarado struck out Belt for the second out, and Longoria flew out to right, ending the game with the Rays sixth “W” of the season.

The New What Next

The Rays and Giants will play game two of three on Saturday. Tampa Bay will use an opener Ryne Stanek (0-0, 0.00 ERA), likely followed by Yonny Chirinos (1-0, 1.29 ERA), opposite right-hander Jeff Samardzija (0-0, 0.00 ERA).

Yonny Chirinos gave up one run on two hits with no walks across seven innings of a win over the Astros on Sunday. He struck out six and walked none. The lone run he relinquished came on a third-inning Jake Marisnick homer with two outs. Otherwise, the tall right-hander coaxed a ton of weak contact to pair with his strike-throwing (88 pitches, 60 strikes, 68% strike rate) which kept the Astros’ bats at bay.

Jeff Samardzija came away with a no-decision in his season debut against the Padres after allowing an unearned run over five innings on Sunday. He is 1-0 with a 2.35 ERA in three career appearances against the Rays. Samardzija relies primarily on a 92 mph sinker with arm-side run, while also mixing in a 92 mph fly-ball coaxing four-seam fastball, an 89 mph cutter with “rising action” and slight cutting action, a whiffy 77 mph curveball with 12-6 movement, an 84 mph slider with little depth, and an 84 mph splitter with cut action and backspin. Key Matchup: Kevin Kiermaier (3-6, 2 3B)

You can read about the series in our preview.

Rays 4/6/19 Starting Lineup

Noteworthiness

— Home plate umpire, Kerwin Danley, didn’t have the best day behind the dish yesterday. Let’s just say his strike zone was a touch liberal.

— Congrats to Tommy Pham, for setting the Rays franchise record for most consecutive games on base, with 40. Johnny Damon who?

After meeting with Major League Baseball Players Association officials in Arizona, Major League Baseball announced that Spring Training camps will be suspended, effective immediately. Big-league players can elect to return home, remain in their Spring Training cities — in either Arizona or Florida — or return to their organization’s home city. Additionally, MLB sent a memo to all 30 teams saying that players not on the 40-man rosters — which in Rays camp includes nine with time in the majors — should be sent home.

The player meeting was the first since the suspensions of both Spring Training and the start of the regular season until at least April 9th due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While this is a surreal situation to be faced with, Tyler Glasnow, the team’s union rep, said at the time he, and the players were pleased that they would have the chance to continue to work out.

I think for the most part for us, we’re relatively close with being in season and being in Spring Training. I think it’s a little bit easier for us. As of now, I think a lot of guys are trying to stay local and just kind of stay indoors and away from people.

— Tyler Glasnow

As Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) wrote on Sunday, the team plans to have their Port Charlotte facility open Monday, though with strong recommendations from the league to not have players gather in “significant numbers” and to remain able to practice proper social distancing methods.

That, however, may change as commissioner Rob Manfred plans a Monday conference call to provide further updates to the ball-clubs from medical experts.

The Tampa Bay Rays and Tampa Bay Rowdies announced they will shut down their Tropicana Field and Al Lang Stadium team offices for at least two weeks to, essentially, everyone but security personnel. That decision impacts about 260 employees at Tropicana Field, and another 40 with the Rowdies at Al Lang Stadium.

The team had planned to shift informal workouts at the Trop starting next week, but that now seems unlikely given the decision to close the offices and limit staffing.

As a result, the Rays sent home the bulk of their 150-plus minor-leaguers, although the team will provide them with the $400 a week per diem they would receive at camp. They also sent home players from their academies in the Dominican Republic. Meanwhile, players on the 40-man roster will continue to get their $195 a day per diem for expenses potentially until the April 9 targeted (and unlikely) delayed Opening Day. The non-roster players will get theirs through next week.

On Sunday, team presidents Brian Auld and Matt Silverman publicly shared an internal message that was initially sent to Rays and Rowdies employees, seeking “aggressive action” throughout the Tampa Bay area against the spread of the Coronavirus which causes COVID-19. In the memo (seen above) Auld and Silverman wrote “there is good reason to believe (the virus) is spreading rapidly throughout Florida. … Now is the time to take aggressive action to protect your household and to isolate yourself in service of us all. … THE NEXT 14 DAYS MAY VERY WELL BE THE MOST CRUCIAL of this pandemic in the United States.”

We don’t normally share our internal staff communications with the public, but in this case we thought it was important for our fans and community to understand how seriously we take this virus. How our community responds in the coming days will have a material impact on how deadly the impact of COVID-19 is on our region.

— Brian Auld, to the Tampa Bay Times

…On social isolation

For what it’s worth, it has come to my attention that many younger people have not taken the social isolation directive to heart. I get it, we are social creatures that like to do things. We like to go to small confined places with tons of other people and while away the time. And while COVID-19 may not pose a serious threat to the sub-50-year-old demographic, as well as those in good health, my mom is 73-years-old and isn’t getting any younger. I also have many relatives in a similar position. To be frank, I would rather practice social isolation than be at risk of contracting something that could affect someone from an at-risk population. It’s called being altruistic.

No, I will not be attending some random DJ night. Thanks for the Facebook invitation though. I also will not be in attendance at a concert some band may be hosting or playing, or a Spring Break party that boasts an invite list of 50 people. You get the idea. And in all honesty, you probably shouldn’t attend or host those events either.

Please consider the well-being of others who may have weaker immune systems, as well as those who cannot easily fight off this virus. Nothing against any given event, I’m sure it would be epic under normal circumstances. It’s just that I would rather give my at-risk friends and family members an opportunity to hear about what could have been, rather than attend an event and put them in a bad situation.

Lastly, it’s critically important to support small businesses right now. After all, they are the backbone of our economy. Get creative, there are many ways to show those businesses love.

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Saw this multi-colored handbill at the bookstore yesterday, and I definitely want to work with these folks for band stuff. Bands and the artists that work along side of them are totally struggling because of the COVID-19 outbreak. It got me thinking, I am trying to do my due diligence and support small businesses during this trying time. I hope you will do the same! Here is a list of IG handles of local businesses I am fond of. Help me by helping them — small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy! @centraloakbarberco_stpete, @bananas_records, @planetretrorecords, @starbootysalon, @craftkafe, @blackcrowcoffeeco, @casitataqueria, @redmesamercado, @eatatbaba, @goldendinosaursvegandeli, @zaytoon_grill, @ifibrewedtheworld, @greenbenchbrewing, @cyclebrewing, @benthanhrestaurant, @rollinoatsstpete, @stpetersbark, @stpeteferments, @tombolobooks, @pinellaschocolate, @trailbale, @littlepondfarm, @nahdogs_stpete, so on and so forth.

A post shared by Handbills and Ticket Stubs (@handbillsandticket) on Mar 16, 2020 at 8:44am PDT