Monday, 3 a.m.
It's never too late for questions. It's never to soon for doubts.
And so, as the Tampa Bay Rays wrap up their regular season, there is plenty of room for skepticism amid the excitement.
For instance, do the Rays have enough pitching?
And do they have enough healthy pitching?
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It was easy to wonder that after the Rays dropped their final game of the regular-season Sunday, 8-3 to Toronto. Starter Blake Snell lasted just seven outs, and reliever Yonny Chirinos gave up four earned runs.
So if the Rays do get past Oakland in Wednesday night's Wild-Card game, can either pitcher help out enough for their series against Houston?
Snell struggled with his command Sunday, and saw his record to fall to 6-8 the year after winning the Cy Young Award.
Ii think that’s fair," Cash said. "I’m glad we go the third 'up' with him. The stuff played very similar to the way we've always seen of Blake, so that’s encouraging. The command of it just wasn’t as sharp, as crisp as we would like. He had a lot of arm side misses with the fastball and the changeup.
" I’ve got a feeling that if we have the opportunity to pitch him again, he’s going to find a second gear. He’s capable of doing that. We’ve been so fortunate with these guys coming back, with Tyler, Yonny and Blake. Blake hasn’t had the easiest path, but I think he's going to be okay."
The Rays aren't very good at these games that don't matter. They fell behind 2-0 in the first, then allowed one in the sixth and three in the seventh.
Still, the Rays finished with 95 wins, second in the history of the franchise.
They will play at Oakland at 8:09 p.m. Wednesday. Charlie Morton will start for Tampa Bay. Oakland has not announced a starter.
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