Beckham is showing signs of being a solid player./JEFFREY S. KING
Tuesday, 4 a.m.
He still isn't Buster Posey, okay? If that is your barometer to judge Tim Beckham, then he will never make you happy.
But more and more, Beckham has become a solid major leaguer. More and more, he is showing that he could make a difference.
It is fair to say that Beckham is one of the most under appreciated of the Tampa Bay Rays, perhaps because the team so clearly overdrafted him, perhaps because he has yet to make his imprint on the lineup. But in his first real run as a starting shortstop, Beckham is slowly turning into an asset.
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Odorizzi returned from the disabled list. /JEFFREY S. KING
On Monday night, Beckham added a two-run double to his recent tear, the only extra-base hit the Rays had in a 4-2 victory over Miami. It was only the fourth win (against 10 losses) on the road for the Rays this season.
In his last 13 games, Beckham has two doubles, two triples, four homers and nine RBI. He's hitting .346 over that span. In pieces of the last two seasons, Beckham has hit only .227 and .247.
These days, it's a good thing to see Beckham in the lineup. These days, he still isn't Buster Posey ... but he's not bad.
"Nice win, awesome win," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "We came in a little beat up, and the guys really came through. Odo was outstanding, really happy to have him back on the mound. And Tim Beckham, him and Robby both came up with some big hits and made some tremendous plays defensively for us. We played a really, really, clean baseball game, and that allowed us to stay in it and win."
The Rays won the game despite getting only five hits. There were various stars for the Rays: Jake Odorizzi, who returned from the disbled list. Kevin Kiermaier, whose slide into second helped the go-ahead run, and the bullpen, which threw zeros for four innings.
"I slid, and I just popped up and he was right there and all of his body weight," Kiermaier said. "He, you know I like Dee, he's such a light guy -- I didn't even feel him pretty much when he was on my shoulder. I just popped up and his gravity, I don't know, something, he was just laying on me. I just put my hands up like I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm glad that didn't get overturned. I would have been livid."
In the seventh, Derek Norris had a double and scored on a fielder's choice. In the eighth, Daniel Robertson singled in Brad Miller. Robertson had been one-for-16.
The go-ahed run scored on a grounder by Steven Souza Jr. The Marins got one out at second, but Kevin Kiermaier went hard into second base. A review said it was a legal slide, however, and the run scored.
Jake Odorizzi returned from the disabled list for the Rays and allowed one earned run in five innings. The bullpen of Danny Farquhar, Jumbo Diaz, Chase Whitley and Alex Colome shut down the Marlins. It was the sixth save for Colome.
The teams finish their two games in Miami tonight when Alex Cobb pitches against Edinson Volquez. The teams then move to St. Petersburg for the final two games of the series.
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