Rays 5, Orioles 6
Record: 14 - 5
Attendance: 9,081 Tomorrow's game against the Red Sox will probably double the attendance with fans who root against the Rays--adding insult to injury. Rays' upper management is crazy not to give these ball players a chance to play before fans who will happily turn out in very big numbers every night--Montreal? Portland? Wherever.
Tonight's game was a mini-barn-burner, lots of offense, clutch hitting, a game-tying bottom-of-the-ninth homer, and a base-running gaffe by a guy who had four hits on the night but was dead meat at a key juncture when he was caught stealing third (or maybe he was picked off second).
The Rays were outhit, 15-9, so the pitching didn't hold up tonight. Obviously. Hunter Wood opened with two good innings, but then he gave the ball to Jalen Beeks who gave up three runs in three innings, who gave the ball to Adam Kolarek who gave up one run in two innings, who gave the ball to newly called-up Emilio Pagan who gave up another run in two innings. Jose Alvarado pitched a perfect tenth with three strikeouts, but Diego Castillo couldn't get out of the eleventh without giving up the winning run. It wasn't pretty.
Offensively, Tommy Pham had the four hits, including a solo homer and a stolen base, and he also helped throw out Rio Ruiz at the plate, but he also single-handedly snuffed out a rally by getting caught between second and third in what seemed like an ill-advised steal attempt. Instead of a man on second with one out, there was no one on with two outs. Ouch. A huge turnaround.
It was Avasail Garcia who came up big again tying it up at 5 in the bottom of the 9th with a monster home run to center off the Rose Oncology sign, some 450 feet away and at an exit speed of 112 mph. Brandon Lowe, one of the heroes of last night's game, looked overmatched all night, striking out four times.
Another bit of bad news is that Tommy John recovering Brent Honeywell suffered what was reported as "forearm soreness" and has been ordered to shut it down for a while. The top pitching prospect was aiming for a June debut with the Rays.
Ready or not, Boston's in town.
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