Chirinos went eight innings for the Rays./STEVEN MUNCIE
Saturday, 4 a.m.
He was impressive. Still, it wasn't so much what the Rays saw of Yonny Chirinos Friday night. It wasn't what their fans saw, either.
Rather, it's what the Boston Red Sox saw.
Batter after batter, the perplexed Red Sox would look at Chirinos as they walked back toward their dugout. Chirinos went eight innings -- impossibly long for a Rays' starter -- and gave up only two hits in a 5-1 victory over Boston. It was the second time in three starts that Chirinos threw more than five innings of no-hit baseball.
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Kiermaier drove in four runs for the Rays./CHUCK MULLER
“He was outstanding," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "In the sixth inning when he got in some trouble, he bore down and made some big pitches to (Andrew) Benintendi and (Rafael ) Devers to get through the inning. What he provided for us was huge seeing as how we’re playing four games in three days.
"Yonny had it all going . He had the fastball going, the command of the off-speed pitches just below the zone. We probably couldn’t have asked for much more from him tonight."
Chirinos is now 7-2 on the season. He's been successful enough as a starter to earn a full-time slot there.
"I was very happy," Chirinos said. "I wasn’t thinking about whether they were getting a hit or not. I was just going batter to batter."
Chirinos' best spot was when he loaded the bases with one out in the sixth. He struck out Benintendi and Devers to get out of it, which led him to leap in joy.
"I was just trying to be aggressive," he said. "They’re both good hitters. I was going to show some emotion that I got them out. They might get you, but I went in there just trying to attack."
For the Rays, Kevin Kiermaier drove in four of the five runs and had three hits, including a home run. Brandon Lowe, Avi Garcia and Ji-Man Choi all had two hits, and Choi had a home run.
The Rays play a doubleheader against Boston today. Ryan Yarbrough will start the first game against an unannounced Boston starter. The Rays' starter for the second game hasn't been announced, but he'll face David Price.
The first game begins at 1:05 at Fenway Park.
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