Rays 4, Yankees 0
Record: 95-64
Attendance: 20,390. Tropicana Field. Last home game of the year. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the Rays drew a total of 1,178,735 this season. That puts the Rays attendance last in the American League, and last in MLB except for the Miami Marlins. Television viewership was up 15%.
With two outs in the sixth on Wednesday night, Charlie Morton left a ball a little too high in the strike zone to D. J. LeMahieu, who promptly slapped it into right field for a single. It was the only hit the mighty Yankees managed all night.
It wasn't all Morton, though he pitched with precision and confidence. He shared the workload with Diego Castillo, Oliver Drake, Nick Anderson (who struck out Aaron Judge with two on and two out in the eighth), and with Andrew Kittredge, who struck out the side in the ninth.
But it was Morton the Lion Hearted who was the star. He set personal records for games in a season, 33, for wins in a season, 16, for innings pitched in a season, 194.2, and for strikeouts in a season, 240, only 12 fewer than Chris Archer's franchise record of 252 in 2015.
Offensively, the Rays got just enough to win without much exertion because the Yankees were being hog tied all night. Joey Wendle opened the game with a homer and later in the first, they scored a second run on a Brandon Lowe single. It remained a little too close for comfort until the sixth when Matt Duffy doubled in Avisail Garcia for a third run--and then Garcia himself homered in the eighth. But the game was a lot closer than its 4-0 final score might suggest.
It's a good thing base running isn't figured in to determine if a team deserves to win. The Rays have been "atrocious" as base runners (Manager Kevin Cash's word at some point midseason). On Wednesday night Duffy doubled to left to drive in Garcia, but then wandered too far off second while the play on Garcia at the plate was being made. The Yankees alertly caught Duffy in a rundown, snuffing out another possible run. Earlier, Joey Wendle was on third with two out--and was nonchalant about getting back to the bag after a pitch. Yankee catcher Kyle Higashioka noticed and rifled the ball to third to pick him off, another rally snuffed out. Maybe the Rays need to hire a spring training base-running guru for next year's spring training, like maybe Ricky Henderson.
After Thursday's off day, the Rays finish off the season against the Blue Jays in Toronto. They are currently two games over the Indians for the second wild card spot, so any combination of two Rays wins and/or Cleveland losses will put them into the postseason. Tyler Glasnow will open against the Jays on Friday night.
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