Friday, April 5. Game 8: Rays beat Giants and Evan Longoria, 5-2

Rays 5, Giants 2

Record:  6-2

Attendance:     41,067.     Giants home opener.

            The Rays jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first when Ji-Man Choi and Brandon Lowe combined for back-to-back doubles before Yandy Diaz muscled a broken bat homer to left for two more runs and Kevin Kiermaier launched a monster 437 foot home run to right center.  Austin Meadows drove in the last run with a double in the seventh.  And Tyler Glasnow, the pitcher who went 0-5 in spring training, pitched six more scoreless innings for his second win of the season.  Wilmer Font, who gave up two runs in two-thirds of an inning in the home seventh, was replaced by Adam Kolarek, who got them out of the inning but loaded the bases in the eighth before striking out Gerardo Parra.  Diego Castillo then came in and threw a double play ball to the newly acquired Kevin Pillar.  Bases loaded, nobody out:  no runs scored.  You have to be lucky of course, but that was mighty fine pitching and defense at a critical moment.  Kudos to your Tampa Bay Rays.  For the bottom of the ninth, Manager Kevin Cash brought in José Alvarado for his third save of the season.  Neat and efficient. 

But not without a little more drama.  With two men on and two out in the bottom of the ninth, Evan Longoria, Mr. Tampa Bay who has been toiling for the last two years in San Francisco Bay, represented the last out.  This is the same Evan Longoria who loves the spotlight, thrives on dramatic moments, and rises to the occasion.  He did it for the Rays for ten years.  Alvarado with his signature 100 mph fastballs got two early strikes on him.  Longoria fouled off a pitch protecting the plate, but then he put a good swing on what Alvarado thought would be his strikeout pitch, fouling it straight back.  It was a near miss.  You could feel that Longo was locked in to battle Alvarado, that he wouldn’t be denied—and he did get around on the next pitch lofting a high fly ball to right where it was caught for the last out.  There was an audible sigh of relief from the Rays dugout—and from the Rays fan base back home.  Longo’s Hollywood script had been rewritten at the last minute, his magic neutralized.  For the moment.      

            Tommy Pham reached base for his 40^th consecutive game as a Ray, and now has the team record in that category. . . . The Rays committed two errors in the game (Lowe and Choi) but managed the win anyway. . . . From the Rays’ perspective, this was a good game, despite a funky inning or two.  They managed a W on the home team’s home opener before a sold out stadium.  And it came on the heels of their worst performance of the year losing a 1-0 game to the Rockies in eleven innings and leaving 13 men on base.  They earned a night out in San Francisco.