Sunday, June 9. Game 64: First place tie, statement win

Rays 6,  Red Sox 1

Record:  40-24

Attendance:  34,643

Blake Snell got run support for a change and rode four Ray home runs and an early lead to his fourth win of the year, 6-1.  His record now stands at 4-5, 3.50, but it wasn't quite as easy as it seems in the morning-after wrap-up.  For one thing, he served up 105 pitches in his six innings of work and had to pitch his way out of trouble in the first and second innings, though he gave up only one run.  Overall he surrendered only five hits and one walk while striking out seven.  And he had to hope the bullpen, which has been so good of late, could hold the 4-1 lead when he left after six.  It did.

Thirty-two-year-old Oliver Drake, another one of the Rays' front office pickups no one ever heard of, showed why he got signed and promoted to the big team so quickly.  He pitched two solid scoreless innings despite giving up a pair of hits and a walk, dropping his ERA to 0.96.  Adam Kolarek pitched the ninth--and suddenly the Tampa Bay Rays ended a 45-hour, four-game trial by fire with the Boston Red Sox in a tie for first with the New York Yankees.

The offense in this finale against the Red Sox was up to the job this afternoon banging out 14 hits in all (Yandy Diaz went 4 for 5), including four home runs.  Two of the homers were hit by Diaz and Guillermo Heredia, nice to watch and important for the scoreboard, but the two launched by Brandon Lowe in the sixth and seventh innings were majestic towering balls into the deepest parts of center field, the first traveling 455 feet and the second 435.  He now has 13 and leads the team.  But the Red Sox had to be amazed to see the skinny 5-10, 185-pound second baseman pound not one but two balls into areas of Fenway Park that rarely see home runs.

Boston manager Alex Cora was quoted after the game in the Boston Globe:  "They're a good team.  They can pitch; they can play defense.  I've been saying it all along, that's a complete team."

The 2019 edition of the Rays has weaknesses:  base-running is an obvious example, inexplicable tailspins is another, a spooky inability to keep catchers healthy might be another, and the undependable work of Jose Alvarado and Diego Castillo as closers is yet another.  And they lost maybe their best pitcher Tyler Glasnow to an arm injury.  To make matters worse, the perpetual attendance problem had an on-field impact this week when free agent All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel, chose the Cubs over the Rays because the Cubs fill the house night after night.

But no matter what hardships, injuries, and obstacles have come up, the Tampa Bay Rays after 64 games in the 2019 season are in a tie for first place in the American League East.  This is starting to get interesting.