After 561 days away, the Tampa Bay Rays returned to Tropicana Field Monday afternoon. In a lot of ways, it was worth the wait.
The Rays beat the Chicago Cubs 6-4. It was their third straight victory. After a horrible start, the Rays' pitching has given up just 10 hits in the three games.
The biggest hit for the Rays was a two-run homer by Jonathan Aranda in the seventh inning to pad a 4-3 lead to 6-3.
Cedric Mullins also had a two-run homer in the second and Junior Caminero hit a solo shot in the third. Mullins, who entered the day hitting just .114, hit his first home run as a Ray.
In 10 games, the Rays have scored 51 runs on 95 hits.
The Rays started Shane McClanahan, but again, he lacked stamina. He gave up just one hit, and two earned runs, in his four innings of work.
The bullpen went five innings and allowed two earned runs. Bryan Baker earned his first save.
Yandy Diaz had two hits to improve his average to .415. Chandler Simpson also had two hits (he's at .395).
The Rays play Chicago again today at 6:40 p.m. at the Trop. Drew Rasmussen will start for Tampa Bay against Javier Assad.
These days, the Tampa Bay Lightning is having a little trouble keeping up with the Buffalo Sabres.
For the third straight meeting, the Sabres got the best of the Lightning 4-2 at the KeyBank Center. Buffalo, which tied the Lightning atop the NHL Atlantic Division, has totaled 18 goals in the three games.
The Lightning tied the game at 2-2 3:56 into the second period, but didn't score again. They had five power play opportunities but scored on just one of them.
Buffalo led 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2.
Nikita Kucherov sfcored his 43rd goal and Jake Guentzel his 37th.
Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 of 28 goals.
The Bolts play at Ottawa tonight at the Canadian Tire Centre at 7 p.m.
Turns out, it isn't so hard to mount a winning streak. Even for the Tampa Bay Rays.
All it takes is great starting pitching, strong relief pitching and timely hitting from an unlikely source. Just like that, and the Rays have won two in a row.
The Rays, 4-5 on the season, beat Minnesota 4-1 in 10 innings at Target Field on Sunday behind a two-run homer by Richie Palacios.
Palacios was hardly the designated slugger for the Rays. He was hitting just .100 coming in, and he played just 17 games because of injury last year. The most homers he had hit in a season was six.
Neither team hit the ball often during regulation. The Twins managed just one hit off Rays' starter Nike Martinez (six innings). The Rays had just five off Minnesota starter Simeon Woods Richardson.
The teams went into extra innings tied 1-1 on solo homers by Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero and Minnesota's Matt Wallner.
Palacios jumped on the second pitch he saw from Minnesota reliever Justin Topa in the 10th. Caminero later walked with the bases loaded.
Palacios had two hits for the Rays.
Rays’ manager Kevin Cash won his 900th game.
The Rays finally return to Tropicana Field at 4:10 today against the Cubs in their home opener. Shane McClanahan will start for the Rays against Chicago's Jameson Taillon.
For the Tampa Bay Rays, the first seven days of the basball season was an uphill walk across broken glass. It was hard to look at, hard to find clues that anything will be different.
Then came Saturday, and a welcome easy victory.
The Rays, 3-5, had a day when everything worked in a 7-1 victory over Minnesota at Target Field. To illustrate how different it was, consider this: In the first seven games of the season, Rays' pitching allowed 48 runs. This time, one run on three hits.
The Rays got a two-hitter out of starting pitcher Stephen Matz (six innings). They also got two shutout innings (one hit) from Cole Sulser and a one shutout inning Mason Englert.
The Rays had 10 hits (and five walks) on the day.
Cedric Mullins and Chandler Simpson each had two hits for the Rays. Yandy Diaz had a triple and Jonathan Aranda had a double.
The Rays play the Twins again today at 2:10 p.m. at Target Field. Nick Martinez will pitch for the Rays against Simeon Woods Richardson.
Sunday, 4 a.m. Even indoors, the Boston Bruins can’t keep the Lightning out of the passing lane. The Lightning capped off a successful home stand (5-1-1) with a 3-1 win over Boston at Benchmark International Arena. It wasn’t quite as dramatic as the Bolts 6-5 win over Boston in the outdoor game at Raymond James […]
Saturday, 4 a.m. It was cold. It was wet. Most of all, it was ugly. The Tampa Bay Rays spent another evening Friday embracing bad baseball. They were clobbered 10-4 by the Minnesota Twinw — who haven’t been very good, either. Along the way, they: — Blew a 3-0 lead. — The bullpen was rotten […]
Friday, 4 a.m. There are brighter stars in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s constellation. He lacks the vision of Nikita Kucherov. He lacks the reach of Andre Vasilevskiy. He isn’t as potent as Brandon Hagel or Jake Guentzel. All Anthony Cirelli does is provide the heart for his team. Cirelli registered the second hat trick of […]
Thursday, 4 a.m. No, that isn’t the Tampa Bay Rays’ bullpen. It’s the Towering Inferno. Once more, the relievers of the Rays were tossing batting practice Wednesday afternoon at American Family Life Field in an 8-2 loss to Milwaukee. Consider. In six games, Rays’ starters have given up 13 runs, an acceptable total. But the […]
Wednesday, 4 a.m. If you are measuring the Rays’ loss to Milwaukee on Tuesday night, it’s understandable if you are disappointed. The team blew a 2-0 lead. They managed just six hits. They allowed the go-ahead run on a sloppy play where they were unable to tag a runner out as he lay prone in […]
Wednesday, 3 a.m. These days, the Lightning seem to be focused on Buffalo, the team in front of them in the standings. Perhaps they should pay a little more attention to Montreal, the just behind them. The Canadiens won their sixth straight game Tuesday night, beating the Lighning 4-1 at Benchmark International Arena. That allowed […]
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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.
