March 31. Game 4: Yonny: Opener, Bulker, Starter

Rays 3, Astros 1
Record:  3-1

Attendance:   18,473       

            
          Yonny Chirinos is supposed to be a “bulker” this season, maybe an occasional “opener,” but today Manager Kevin Cash called on him to be an old-fashioned “starter.”  All Chirinos managed to do today was pitch seven innings of two-hit ball, giving up one run and striking out six.  The bullpen supplied four more end-of-game “finishers” with the save going to the last of them, Diego Castillo, another of the seemingly endless stream of youngsters on this team.  (There are six 25-year-olds like Castillo; four others under 25; and then eleven more clustered between 26 and 28.)  Mike Zunino threw out another would-be base stealer (three out of four on the young year for him, with Michael Perez picking up another), making the Rays a team other teams will think twice about  running on.  Austin Meadows launched his second homer of the year, a towering fly ball that carried clear over the center field wall, which, with an RBI single in the first, gives him 4 on the year.  He may take our minds off Jake Bauers.  What a start to the year, three of four from the Astros.

·          

            Astro’s manager A. J. Hinch:  “We will walk out of here losing three of four, so needless to say, we’re ready to get out of here.”  Remembering his team has lost seven of its last eleven games against the Rays, he added, “There’s a reason they won 90 games [last year].  They’re not a secret.”

            Joey Wendle tweaked a hamstring in the sixth and was pulled for a pinch hitter at his next scheduled at-bat.  The official line was that it didn’t appear to be serious.

            Matt Duffy, on the injured list for a mild hamstring problem, has now revealed a back injury that will keep him out more than the minimum ten-day period, maybe until mid-May.  He’s an interesting case, a superior defensive player and an accomplished singles hitter who batted .294 last year, he has almost no long ball potential, which you like to see in a third baseman.  Maybe worse, Duffy is painfully thin and looks fragile and on the verge of an extended recovery stint, like 2017, a season he lost completely due to foot surgery.  He's a good man to have--when you have him.

The Rockies are coming to town tomorrow.  Opener Ryne Stanek vs. Chad Bettis.