Saturday, August 31. Game 137: Good, very good, but can they keep it up?

Rays 9, Indians 6

Record:  79-58

Attendance:  13,327.  Tropicana Field

The Cleveland Indians are half a game ahead of Tampa and Oakland for the AL wild card, but the Rays just finished beating the Tribe up, 9-6 on Saturday and 4-0 on Friday, thus making a point to the American League.  They're in it to win it.

Will they?  That depends on whether or not they can continue playing as they have in recent days, as they have for long stretches of the season, as they did in April.  Or will they revert back to the dark days of June-July and long stretches when they haven't scored runs in so many innings that it was hard to count them up.

But when they get the pitching they are so proud of, as they have recently, when their hitters hammer out singles, doubles, and homers, as they have recently, and when the defense hits another high watermark, as it did Saturday, then there is no question they will be a postseason presence.

In Saturday's game, opener Diego Castillo, who gets chance after chance, failed again, giving up three hits including a homer and two runs in all.  Jalen Beeks, who has also failed to perform well recently, pitched three scoreless innings for the win, 6-3.  Standbys Drake, Anderson, and Roe kept the Tribe hitless for two and a third more.  But manager Kevin Cash called on newcomer Ricardo Pinto, who no doubt suffered first-game jitters.  It was a good spot to introduce the new guy to late season pressure games because there was little pressure at the time with the score 9-2.  But an inning and a third later the score was 9-6 and Cash had to bring in Emilio Pagan (who says he isn't the closer?) to get the last two outs--and his 16th save.

The offense was in sync all night with 11 hits and home runs from Choi (13), Pham (20), Garcia (18), and d'Arnaud (15).

But it was the defense that drew the most gasps, especially in the third with Francisco Lindor on first and a ball hit off the wall in left.  Lindor was off on contact.  Pham played the ball off the wall but was running toward center field, requiring him to make a full turn to throw the ball into the infield.  Kiermaier was right there too, so Pham jumped out of the way at the last second giving Kiermaier a chance to throw the ball into Joey Wendle, who was playing short.  In one movement Wendle caught the ball, pivoted, and pegged it in to d'Arnaud, who short-hopped it and tagged the speedy Lindor on the ankle.  It was spectacular, enough to light a fire under the team the rest of the way out.  Maybe it was enough to light a fire for the rest of the month.

September 1 call ups.  The big names are Nate Lowe and Daniel Robertson, but others were called up too:  relievers Pete Fairbanks and Hoby Milner, and catcher Michael Perez.  And it won't be long before we see Anthony Banda, Jose De Leon, Brendan McKay, and maybe Aaron Slegers, according to Marc Topkin in the Tampa Bay Times.  Trustworthy Rays through large chunks of the season, Mike Brosseau and Guillermo Heredia, will both be back with the club soon now.

And then there is Tyler Glasnow, who has been shut down three and a half months with an elbow issue.  His rehab work is just about complete and a return to the mound may come as soon as this week.  Blake Snell's return is also possible.

September does indeed have meaningful games to be played, which is all any of us could have hoped for back in February.  Now all the boys have to do is finish the job!