Ramos drove in the winning run for the Rays./JEFFREY S. KING
Wednesday, 4 a.m.
Now that he has taken over the lead in the All-Star voting for catchers, Wilson Ramos doesn't seem to want to leave any doubt.
Ramos hit a bounding single off the glove of Yuri Gurriel in the eighth inning Tuesday night, driving in Matt Duffy with the winning run in a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros. The victory snapped a 12-game winning streak by Houston.
Ramos leads AL catchers with 63 hits, 14 more than Jonathan LuCroy and 21 more than the Yankees' Gary Sanchez, the player he passed in the voting.
Content beyond this point is for members only.
Already a member? To view the rest of this column, sign in using the handy "Sign In" button located in the upper right corner of the GarySheltonSports.com blog (it's at the far right of the navigation bar under Gary's photo)!
Not a member? It's easy to subscribe so you can view the rest of this column and all other premium content on GarySheltonSports.com.
Snell walked seven, but he allowed just three hits./JEFFREY S. KING
In the eighth, Duffy doubled down the right field line to start the inning. Jake Bauers' groundout to second moved Duffy over, and Ramos hit a 2-1 pitch over third and into left field.
For the Rays, Blake Snell won in a spotty performance. He went seven innings and allowed just three hits, although he walked seven batters. Still, he was good enough to outlast Justin Verlander of Houston.
"It was an interesting outing," said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. "The strike zone wasn't the easiest for him at times. You’ll take what Blake’s performance was. One run. He made some pitches when he needed to.
Cron hit his 16th homer of the season./CARMEN MANDATO
"He couldn’t have done that last year. (Then) walks would come and couple of hits and it snowballed. His previous starts have given him the confidence to say 'okay, I don't have my best stuff, but I can get the big out when I need to."
Ramos, Duffy and Joey Wendle all had two hits. C.J. Cron hit his 16th homer of the season.
For the Rays, the game marked the return of centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier. Kiermaier, however, went 0-for-five and is hitting .143. Outfielder Rob Refsnyder was designated for assignment to make room for Kiermaier on the roster.
Tampa Bay plays against Houston again tonight at 8:10 p.m. Nathan Eovaldi pitches for the Rays against Charlie Morton.
{ 0 comments… read it below or Subscriptions }