Rays Win Third Series In A Row
Tampa, FL – The Tampa Bay Rays won for the seventh time in their last nine games defeating the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Sunday afternoon in front of 12,940 fans at Tropicana Field.
Shawn Armstrong (2-1, 4.83 ERA) picked up the win for the Rays who improve to 65-55 on the season. Colin Poche and Brooks Raley formed the bridge to Pete Fairbanks who worked a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his fourth save on the year. With the win Tampa Bay captures the season series over the Kansas City Royals wining four times against three losses. The victory secured the Rays third straight series win.
Jose Cuas (2-2, 4.00 ERA) took the loss for the Royals who see their record drop to 49-74.
Rays Strike First:
Randy Arozarena singled with 2-out in the home half of the first inning and stole second base. It was his 23rd stolen base of the season. The theft paid dividends as Harold Ramirez followed with an opposite field RBI single to give Tampa Bay the early 1-0 lead.
Christian Bethancourt is in the 91st percentile in average exit velocity (Statcast) and that hard contact is starting to surface in positive results. In the second inning Bethancourt sent a line drive over the left field wall to give the Rays a 2-0 lead. It was his seventh homer of the season.
Royals Tie It Up In the Fifth:
The Royals tied the game in the fifth inning scoring a pair of unearned runs thanks to an errorb by second baseman Brandon Lowe. Yarbrough also didn’t help his cause by waling the eighth place hitter Kyle Isbel. Fatigue may have also played a factor as Nicky Lopez forced Yarbrough to throw 13 pitches before sending a possible double play ball to Lowe. Lowe feeder throw to Yu Chang was high and pulled him off the bag and everyone was safe. MJ Melendez followed with an RBI single that glanced off Harold Ramirez’s glove ending Yarbrough’s day. Shawn Armstrong came in to face Bobby Witt Jr. who delivered a sacrifice fly to score the game tying run.
Rays Answer Royals And Regain Lead:
Brandon Lowe singled to open the bottom of the fifth, moved to second on a 1-out walk to Randy Arozarena, and scored the go-ahead run on Harold Ramirez’s RBI single.
For Starters:
Zach Greinke worked 4.0-innings allowing two runs (earned) on five hits while striking out two and walking one. He made 68 pitches with 44 for strikes.
Ryan Yarbrough worked 4.2-innings allowing a pair of unearned runs on three hits while striking out five, walking one, and hitting a batter. He made 82 pitches with 58 for strikes. Yarbrough hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last two appearances totaling 8.2-innings of work.
Setback For Wander:
The Rays announced that Wander Franco is having “lingering symptoms while swinging”. He has been removed from his rehab assignment with the Durham Bulls and will return to St. Petersburg for further treatment. A rehab assignment duration for hitters is 20 days and for pitchers it’s 30 days. A hitter has to be inactive for 5-days to restart a rehab assignment, a pitcher must remain inactive for 7-days. When/If Franco resumes a rehab stint, by rule it will reset to 20-days.
Up Next For Rays:
Jeffrey Springs pitches during the first inning of the team’s baseball game against the New York Yankees on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, in New York. ” class=”wp-image-354425″/>Tampa Bay remains at home and will welcome Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, and the Los Angeles Angels to town for a four game set starting Monday night at 7:10 pm est. Jeffrey Springs (5-3, 2.52 ERA) will open the series for Tampa Bay and the Angels counter with lefty Tucker Davidson (2-3, 6.75 ERA).
