Rays 8, Indians 2
Record: 80-58
Attendance: 14,922. Tropicana Field
The Rays took game three against the Indians, sweeping the series, by a score of 8-2. The win put them half a game ahead of Cleveland in the AL wild card race, with 24 games left to play. If they can win at least 14 of them, they will finish the regular season with 94 wins, which ought to be enough to make the post season.
Once again the Rays offense came through, this time with 14 hits and eight runs. Newly called up Nate Lowe homered, his sixth, in the fourth, and the Rays scored in five of eight innings.
Thirty-five-year-old Charlie Morton picked up the win putting his record at 14-6. He gave up one run on four hits and three walks over five and a third innings and 108 pitches. He had eight strikeouts, which gives him 209 for the year, the most he's ever had in a single season over a twelve-year career. He also saw his innings pitched rise to 170, only one short of his career high set in Pittsburgh in 2011. And if he wins one more game, he will tie his record for wins in a season, 15 in 2018 when he was with Houston. Morton has led the way for his young Rays teammates all year, so it was only fitting that he should be on the mound Sunday finishing the sweep against Cleveland and putting his team atop the AL wild card race.
With so many more pitchers available after the September 1 call-up, manager Kevin Cash called on five relievers, including new guys Hoby Miller and Pete Fairbanks, who combined for one and two-thirds of perfect work. Kittredge and Roe tossed the next innings, and Ricardo Pinto, who had his season kick off yesterday when he gave up four runs, pitched a perfect final inning.
The Rays may stumble in the last month, but as a team they will never forget their clutch win over the Indians on September 1, 2019.
A baseball moment. Back on May 30, the traditional Memorial Day that kicks off the summer, Carlos Carrasco pitched for the Indians, but it was his last appearance until Sunday, the day before Labor Day. During the summer he was diagnosed with leukemia and has been under treatment ever since, but he has also been working to return and on Sunday Manager Terry Francona called on him to pitch the seventh inning. When he took the mound, he received a standing ovation from the fans at Tropicana Field and the players from both teams who left their dugouts to applaud. Afterward Carrasco was moved to say that "even the other team came out," according to the Tampa Bay Times, which also quoted catcher Kevin Plawecki: "That was one of the coolest moments that I've ever been a part of."
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