Yarbrough was almost flawless Sunday./JEFFREY S. KING
Monday, 3 a.m.
You could call it splendid. You could call it terrific. You could call it dominating.
You could almost call it perfect.
The Tampa Bay Rays came within three outs of throwing baseball's first-ever combined perfect game Sunday, beating the Orioles 4-1 on a day when Ryne Stanek and Ryan Yarbrough were magnificent. The two retired the first 24 hitters of the game before Hanser Alberto squeezed a ground ball into the hole left by the shift.
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Stanek got through the first two innings easily./JEFFREY S. KING
The Orioles went on to get three hits and a run in the ninth.
Yarbrough retired 19 outs in the victory as the Rays improved their winning streak to five of six games. Against the Os, the Rays won three of four and scored 33 runs.
"I felt pretty good about the pitch, and he snuck it through the right side," Yarbrough said. "You kind of smile a little bit over what almost happened."
Yarbrough, who was called up from Durham to pitch, struck out six.
"It was the eighth inning that I knew we were actually doing it," Yarbrough said. "I heard a fan scream at me. It kind of stinks it happened like that."
The Rays are now 27-11 against teams with a losing record.
The Rays got yet another home run from Mike Brosseau, a two-run shot, and Austin Meadows hit his first home run since May 28. Joey Wendle had a sacrifice fly.
“Both of them were really impressive," said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. "Stanek came out hot. His command was really good. Yarbs took it right up. It was a fun game to be a part of , to watch.
“Our plan all along was to let (Yarbrough) get one start and come back up to pitch this game. He certainly performed well. I don’t know if he could have performed much better."
The Rays now travel to New York to face the Yankees. In today's game, Blake Snell will throw against James Paxton. The game is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
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