Turns out, the Rescue Ranger of the Tampa Bay Rays wears a red beard.
Dennis Rasmussen brought relief to the slumping Tampa Bay Rays, pitching a one-hit gem (seven innings) in a 6-0 shutout over the Florida Marlins. Rasmussen allowed only a second-inning single to Javier Sanoja. He struck out nine.
Perhaps more important, Rasmussen led the Rays to a win. After going 2-8 in their previous 10 games, that was a relief.
Caminero reached base five times./TIM WIRT
It also allowed the Rays to lengthen their lead in the AL East to a game and a half.
The Rays relied on familiar faces for their offense. Junior Caminero and Yandy Diaz each had three hits (Caminero also had two walks). Ryan Vilade also had two hits.
Richie Palacios had a two-run triple as the Rays took a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Cedric Mullins had a home run.
The Rays and Marlins play again today at 4 p.m. at loanDepot Park. Shane McClanahan will start for the Rays against a yet-to-be named starter for the Marlins.
The days go by, and they sink lower. They look worse and worse. The beatings get more and more convincing.
They are the Tampa Bay Rays, and they are playing dreadful baseball.
The Rays were clobbered again Wednesday afternoon. Once again, it was an awful Detroit team that laid an awful beating on the Rays.
The score was 7-2 this time. The Tigers, who entered the series as one of the worst offenses in the majors, scored 25 runs on 37 hits in the three games.
Mullins hit his fourth homer./TIM WIRT
The Rays' lead in the AL East was down to a half-game after their latest loss.
It has been the ugliest 10 game span for the Rays. They've given up an average of 7.4 runs and 11 hits a game as they've gone 2-8.
Troy Melton, starting his third game, handcuffed the Rays. He threw eight innings of four-hit baseball. All four of the hits were in the first two innings. The Rays were no-hit for the last seven innings.
The Rays' Nick Martinez, who had been off to a superb start, gave up six earned runs in just four innings.
Cedric Mullins had a solo homer and Yandy Diaz drove in a run with a single for the Rays.
The Rays are off today and are in Miami Fridato face the Marlins at loneDepot park. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against Tyler Phillips.
Be careful when walking around the American League East these days.
A Tampa Bay Ray might fall on you.
The Rays, currently playing as poorly has any team in baseball, were jolted again Tuesday night at Tropicana Field. They lost 8-0 to the dreadful Detroit Tigers, only the third time they have been shut out this season.
The Rays have lost seven of their last nine games. They've given up 67 runs in that stretch, and in five of the losses, they've given up eight runs or more.
The Tigers jumped the Rays early, scoring twice in the first inning and three times in the second.
Tigers starter Jack Flaherty, winless in seven games coming in, threw five shutout innings to get his first victory.
The Rays had just five hits, two of them by Richie Palacios.
The Tigers have hit eight home runs in their two wins over the Rays.
The Rays and Tigers play again today at 1:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Nick Martinez (5-1) will start for the Rays against Troy Melton(1-0).
How pronounced is the recent slump by the Tampa Bay Rays?
These days, they seem to be struggling against last-place teams.
The Rays made the woeful Detroit Tigers -- who came in with a record that was tied for the worst in baseball -- look like a World Series contender in Monday night's 10-9 loss at Tropicana Field.
Tampa gave up five home runs, including three straight in the third inning. The Rays fell behind by six runs twice.
The Tigers came in 4-21 in their last 25 games.
Still, the Rays can surrender runs to just about anyone. In their last eight games, they have given up nine runs or more four times.
Detroit's Dillon Dingler had two home runs, four hits and four RBI. Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene each had three hits. Tampa Bay has now lost two of their last three games to two of the worst teams in baseball (Detroit and the Las Angeles Angels).
For the Rays, Yandy Diaz had three hits. Junior Caminero and Ryan Vilade had home runs.
The Rays and Tigers play again tonight at 6:40 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Steven Matz (4-2) will start for the Rays against Jack Flaherty (0-7).
Monday, 4 a.m. The Tampa Bay Rays didn’t exactly sprint to their latest series win. They just walked. The Rays walked nine times, two of them with the bases loaded, to capture a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels Sunday. It was their sixth straight series win at Tropicana Field. The Rays have walked […]
Sunday, 4 a.m. Evidently, the skid is not over yet. One day after ending a season-worst four-game losing streak, the Tampa Bay Rays returned to sloppy baseball again Saturday afternoon. The Rays gave up four runs in the first and six in the ninth, going on to absorb a 14-3 pummeling at the hands of […]
Saturday, 4 a.m. It was the seventh inning when the ugly came off of the baseball for the Tampa Bay Rays. They were down 2-1, to a mediocre Angels’ team from Los Angeles. Home field didn’t seem to be helping them. A fifth straight loss was possible. And then the Rays’ woke up. The Rays […]
Thursday, 4 a.m. No, really. They’re in first place. Oh, sure, the Tampa Bay Rays aren’t playing like it. They were clobbered again Wednesday night, 11-2 by Baltimore at Camden Yards. It left the Rays with a season-long four-game losing streak as their lead in the AL East dwindled. It was embarrassing. The Rays didn’t […]
Wednesday, 4 a.m. Are we seeing a team in a brief tailspin, or is the situation with the Tampa Bay Rays more dire? Are they a team on the verge of unraveling? The Rays lost their third straight game Tuesday night, playing a sloppy game in a 6-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Camden […]
Tuesday, 4 a.m. How many times can a team blow a game? How many leads can it squander? Four times, the Tampa Bay Rays took a lead over the Baltimore Orioles Monday at Camden Yards. Every time, they let the O’s roar back, until the final time resulted in a 9-7 win in 13 innings. […]
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About Gary Shelton
• No one covers Tampa Bay like Gary Shelton.
• No one has seen as many moments, as many athletes, as many coaches as he has over the last quarter of a century.
• No one has won more awards, including two national Associated Press Sports Editors Best Columnist awards and eight top 10 finishes. He also just received his sixth Sportswriter of the Year award for Florida by the NSSA.
• No one has seen more big events, including 29 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics and 11 Final Fours. Gary still goes into the locker rooms to obtain his stories.
• No one has made you angrier, or laugh louder, or think harder about what he has written.
Now, he begins a website designed to keep him in touch with the readers who have grown up on his words.
