Rays Reach 90-Win Mark For 6th Time In 11 Years
The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 9-4 to pick up their 90th win of the season.
Ryan Yarbrough (16-6, 3.91 ERA) picks up the win for Tampa Bay who finish the season 90-72. Austin Pruitt worked the final 3.1-innings to earn his fourth save of the season. It’s his fourth career save of three or more innings tying a Rays franchise record with Matt Andriese.
It’s Tampa Bay’s sixth 90 win season in the last 11 seasons. They join the Red Sox (7), Dodgers (7), and Yankees (6) as the only teams with six 90-win seasons since 2008. The Rays finish the month of September 19-9, the best September in franchise history. It’s just the third time in the wild card era that a team with 90 wins misses the post-season.
Sam Gaviglio (3-10, 5.31 ERA) takes the loss for Toronto who finish the season 73-88 and will select 10th in next June’s draft.
Rays Pitching Mosaic:
Ryne Stanek opened for the Rays and worked two scoreless innings allowing one hit while striking out three and walking none.
Ryan Yarbrough worked three innings allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits while striking out two and walking one.
Hunter Wood opened the sixth inning and allowed the first two batters to reach on a walk and a single. Aledmys Diaz grounded into a fielders choice scorign Rowdy Tellez and cutting the Rays lead to 5-3.
Wood departed for lefty Holby Milner who retired Reese McGuire before departing for Austin Pruitt.
Pruitt worked the final 3.1-innings to pick up his fourth save on the season.
Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better Inning:
Toronto scored one run in their half of the third, Tampa Bay answered with two of their own.
The Blue Jays scored an unearned run in the third inning after Kevin Pillar reached with a 2-out single. He advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on a 2-out double by Randall Grichuk.
Tampa Bay answered the Jays in their half of the third. Jake Bauers walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. He came in to score on an errant throw by catcher Reese McGuire on Tommy Pham‘s stolen base attempt. On the play, Pham scampered to third and scored on a 2-out RBI single by Joey Wendle.
Rays Answer Toronto’s Run With Three Of Their Own In Fifth:
With 2-out in the fifth Richard Ureña and scored on Kevin Pillar‘s RBI double off the wall in right.
Like the third inning, Tampa Bay came right back and answered Toronto, this time scoring three times. Jake Bauers opened the inning with a beat the shift bunt and moved to second on Nick Ciuffo‘s sacrifice bunt. Mallex Smith drove in Bauers with a single and moved into scoring position by stealing second. He came home on a Tommy Pham triple. Joey Wendle scored Pham with a sacrifice fly that gave Tampa Bay a 5-2 lead.
Toronto Cuts Into Lead In Sixth:
Hunter Wood walked Teoscar Hernandez to lead off the sixth, moved to third on a single by Rowdy Tellez, and scored on a fielders choice off the bat of Aledmys DÃaz cutting the Tampa Bay lead to 5-3.
Rays Separate Game In Seventh:
Tampa Bay added three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Brandon Lowe and a 2-RBI ground-rule double by Jake Bauers. Bauers finished the game reaching base four time with a pair of singles, a double, and a walk.
Rays Cap Their Season Scoring In Eighth:
Taylor Guerrieri hit two Rays batters and Tommy Pham singled to load the bases. C.J. Cron bounced into a double play scoring Mallex Smith and pushing the Rays lead to 9-3.
Toronto Doesn’t Go Quietly Into The Night:
Jon Berti led off the ninth for Toronto with a triple and came into score on a double play ball to cut the lead to 9-4.
Up Next For The Rays:
The Rays open the 2019 season against the AL West Champion Houston Astros on March 28th. It’s part of a 7-game opening week with four against the Astros and three against the Colorado Rockies.
