Romo reacts to his 13th save./JEFFREY S. KING
Friday, 4 a.m.
Oh, so that's who they traded for.
Jalen Beeks, obtained to be part of the pitching future for the Tampa Bay Rays, shook off an unimpressive debut Thursday. He got his first win for the Rays with five innings of two-hit baseball.
This time, Beeks showed the type of command that led to the Rays' trading Nathan Eovaldi for him.
In Beeks' first appearance for Tampa Bay, he allowed 10 hits and three earned runs.
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This time, Beeks was in control./JEFFREY S. KING
"It’s amazing what throwing the ball over the plate and throwing strikes can do," said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. "Kyle (Snyder, the pitching coach) is a magic man. Him and Stan (Boroski, the bullpen coach) and Jalen buying in a little bit. It was nice to see. To get some confidence. He pitched really well."
The latest performance by Beeks hinted at the potential for the Rays' pitching. If Beeks and (Tyler) Glasnow can pitch the way they have for the
Duffy makes a play at third for the Rays./JEFFREY S. KING
last two nights, and if they are joined by Blake Snell and Jake Faria, and if some of the young guns (Brent Honeywell and Anthony Banda) can blossom, it could be a good staff.
This time, Beeks was good enough to make you think about it.
“Just getting the first pitch in there," Beeks said of the difference. "I don’t know exactly what it was, but (pitching coach Kyle Snyder) said 13 out 18 or something like that. I was just attacking guys a lot better.”
Diego Castillo followed Beeks with a scoreless inning, and Sergio Romo picked up his 13th save. Hunter Wood started for the Rays and pitched two scoreless innings.
Wood got the start for Tampa Bay./JEFFREY S. KING
"Hunter’s got good stuff," Cash said. "You guys talk about getting guys fresh and asking and I think he’s probably as much as anybody a guy who can benefit from a consistent workload that’s monitored. You look at him and he probably weighs 150 pounds, but he’s throwing 95 mph, cutting it, big curveball and he utilizes his pitches well. He knew we had some opportunities to get some chase at the top of the zone and he did that and got a couple of punchouts from it.”
Said Hunter: “The longer I am here the more comfortable I am with my surroundings, the people, everything. Everything is coming together and it’s getting really comfortable now.”
Adames was solid for the Rays./JEFFREY S. KING
The Rays scored four times in the fourth inning, including a two-run single by C.J. Cron. A wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by Willy Adames accounted for the team's other two runs.
The Rays are now 56-53 -- the same record as a year ago -- for the season.
Jake Bauers had a double after an 11-pitch at bat. It was the fourth straight game Bauers has had an extra base hit. Since June 7, Bauers has had 16 doubles, tied with Houston's Alex Bregman for first in the American League.
Tampa Bay plays the Chicago White Sox tonight at 7:10 p.m. Ryne Stanek will start for the Rays against Chicago's Lucas Giolito.
Cron singled in two runs for the Rays./JEFFREY S. KING
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