Rays 5, Red Sox 2
Record: 18-9
Attendance: 33,823
Now it's Glasnow (5-0), Sale (0-5).
More importantly, the Rays completed an abbreviated sweep of the Red Sox, 5-2, on a cloudy day in Boston with temps in the mid-50s. It was good to turn the tables on Boston this weekend after they beat the Rays three straight close games last weekend. Friday's rainout took away the possibility of a three-game sweep, but two will do as the team looks to reload tomorrow in Kansas City for a four-game set.
Major league baseball is a relentless grind, one series after another all summer long and no time to rest on your laurels. Among the ten series coming up in May, the Rays will face the Yankees for six games (two home and home sets), the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers, and the Indians. Perhaps a manager's biggest challenge over a grueling six-month season is keeping his pitchers and positions players fresh and ready to play. Easier said than done over such a long stretch.
Offensively, the Rays put two-run innings together in the first and second. The big blow in the first was Daniel Robertson's two-run homer over the Green Monster; in the second it was Yandy Diaz's two-run triple to the deepest part of center field. The last run they manufactured in the ninth on a force out.
On the mound, Tyler Glasnow pitched very well into the seventh (102 pitches), striking out nine and giving up two runs, one in the seventh on a solo homer by 2B Michael Chavis, the top prospect in the Red Sox farm system. By going into the seventh, Glasnow helped Manager Kevin Cash limit bullpen activity, but the big three, Pagan, Alvarado, and Castillo, in that order, finished it up earning two holds and a save.
Hunter Wood rejoined the team after paternity leave for his daughter Ricki Joe, who was born about a month premature and is scheduled to be released from the hospital very soon. Austin Pruitt was sent down.
Nice point made by the Tampa Bay Times Marc Topkin about the sequence of relievers in this game: "It might not always be evident, but there's (usually) a plan to how manager Kevin Cash uses his bullpen. Why have Jose Alvarado start the eighth rather than hold him for the ninth? Because Cash feels strongly about getting the first out in late innings, and Alvarado matched up better with leadoff man Andrew Benintendi."
Unsolicited praise: Marc Topkin is as good a baseball beat writer as there is. It's a pleasure to see his take on every single game--and I've been following baseball (and beat writers) since 1949. This guy is good. We are lucky to have him.
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