Uh-oh. The bullpen of the Tampa Bay Lightning is aflame again.
The relief pitchers of the Rays were the culprits in the Rays' 5-3, 10-inning loss to the Toronto Blue Jays Wednesday night at the Rogers Centre.
Twice, the Rays were in position to close out a win, leading 1-0 in the eighth and 3-1 in the 10th. But neither time could the bulllpen -- effective as of late -- slam the door.
In the eighth, usual closer Byron Baker could not find the strike zone. He walked four batters in two-thirds of an inning, giving up the tying run when Kazuma Okmoto hit a sacrifice fly.
The Rays regained the lead in the 10th when Ben Williamson singleed in a run, then scored on a single by Yandy Diaz.
But releiver Aaron Brooks let the two-run lead slip away. He managed to gegt one batter out, walked two and gave up a walk-off grand slam to Daulton Varsho.
The Rays walked 10 batters in all. They were bailed out with four double plays and the Blue Jays going one-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Griffin Jax went five innings and allowed just four hits.
The Rays got two hits from Diaz. Richie Palacios drove in a run in the seventh.
The Rays are off today, then play home against the Florida Marlins. They play Friday night at 7:10 p.m. Jesse Scholtens will start for the Rays against Janson Junk.
Sometimes, the sweetest wins can be the ones you almost let get away.
The Tampa Bay Rays pulled out a 7-6 win over Toronto in 10 innings Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre. Taylor Walls singled in a tie-breaking run in the top of the 10th, then scored on a deep fly by Jonathan Aranda.
Earlier in the game, the Rays blew a five-run lead in the seventh inning.
Shane McClanahan had another impressive start, going five innings and giving up just one hit and no runs. The Rays led 5-0 in the seventh inning.
McClanahan is 3-0 in his last four starts and has held opposing batters to a .147 average and no runs,
It's been a while since the bullpen faltered, but it had a horrible inning. Relievers Casey Legumina and Cole Susler each gave up two earned runs (they combined for only five outs). The tying run scored on Junior Caminero’s second error of the night.
The Rays did get 13 hits. Jonny DeLuca had three hits and Aranda, Caminero and Ryan Vilade all had two.
Vilade had a double and a triple.
Aranda continues to lead the American League with 33 RBI.
The Rays and Jays play again tonight at 7:07 at the Rogers Centre, Griffin Jax will start for the Rays against Dylan Cease.
Maybe, just maybe, the Tampa Bay Rays knew what they were doing when they let relief pitcher Pete Fairbanks walk.
Fairbanks is off to a stumbling start with his new team, the Miami Marlins. He was 0-2 with an ERA of 10.00 as he recently headed to the injured list.
His primary replacement, Bryon Baker, has quickly become one of the Rays' new heroes as he works out of the bullpen.
Baker earned his 11th save (13 opportunities) of the season Monday night, shutting the door on the last three Toronto hitters in an 8-5 victory over Toronto at the Rogers Centre. Baker has an ERA of 2.16.
Palacios drove in three runs./KIM HUKARI
Drew Rasmusen improved his record to 3-1, allowing just four hits in six innings. He did give up a three-run homer to Andres Gimenez in the second inning. Gimenez also hit a two-run shot off Ian Seymour in the seventh.
The Rays jumped to a 5-0 lead early and held on. Jonathan Aranda, who leads the American League in RBI with 32, had a sacrifice fly in the first. Palacios had a two-run single. Taylor Walls tripled in Hunter Feduccia.
After Gimenez' first home run, Chandler Simpson stole a run in the fourth. He reached on an infield single, went to second on a balk, stole third and came home on a bad throw to third.
Aranda hit his eighth home run of the year in the fifth.
Aranda leads the AL in RBI./TIM WIRT
Aranda was hit by a pitch in the seventh and came home on another hit by Palacios.
Simpson and Palacious each had three hits. Aranda had two Both Palaciosand Aranda had three RBI.
The Rays and Jays play again tonight at 7:07 at the Rogers Centre. Shane McClanahan will start for the Rays against Patrick Corbin.
Don't look now, but the young lad is getting stronger.
Junior Caminero, the budding star of the Tampa Bay Rays, homered again Sunday afternoon to lead the Rays to a 4-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
And, once again, it was impressive.
This time, Caminero drove a pitch 404 feet over the left-field wall. It was his sixth straight homer of more than 400 feet (four of his first five were short of 400, although all 11 of his homers have been at least 375 feet.)
It was another win the recent hot streak of the Rays, who have now taken 14 of 16 games. At the end of their win, they led the Yankees in the AL East race by a half-game.
Nick Martinez won his fourth game for the Rays. He went 5 2/3 innings and scattered seven hits. The bullpen of Kevin Kelly, Garrett Cleavinger and Bryan Baker pitched 3 1/3 innings of shutout baseball.
Baker earned his 10th save.
The Rays scored first on Caminero's homer. The Rays added two more in the third when Simpson's grounder was misplayed. Cedric Mullins drove in Ben Williamson with a sacrifice bunt in the sixth.
The Rays travel to Toronto tonight to face the Blue Jays. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against Kevin Gausman.
Saturday, 4 a.m. No, winning streaks don’t last forever. The Tampa Bay Rays lost a rare game Friday night, 2-0 to the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park. The Rays had won seven in a row, and they had won 13 of 14 games. The Red Sox cooled all that down in their shutout win. […]
Friday, 4 a.m. The Tampa Bay Rays showed a national audience just what they have going on Thursday night. In an 8-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, the Rays showed off their stars. You’ve heard of Junior Caminero? That was him, launching a 449-foot home run to clinch the victory. Caminero […]
Thursday, 4 a.m. Turns out, the Tampa Bay Rays are going to need a bigger broom. The Rays pulled off their second straight series sweep — and their fifth of the season — with a 3-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at Tropicana Field. It was another positive stride for Shane McClanahan, who had […]
Wednesday, 4 a.m. He is not a regular hero. He just plays one every now and then. Ben Williamson, the middle-infielder of the Tampa Bay Rays, snuck a single up the middle to drive his team to a 4-3 victory over Toronto at Tropicana Field Tuesday night. It was the Rays’ fifth straight win, and […]
Tuesday, 4 a.m. Are you bored yet? Are you tired of seeing win after win by these Tampa Bay Rays? Of course not. The Rays followed their recent formula again Monday night in a 5-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. They got stellar pitching (again) and enough hitting (again). They won their 10th game […]
Monday, 4 a.m. It ended with their best weapon, Nikita Kucherov, taking their last shot. He missed. As much as anything else, you can blame the shortcomings of the Tampa Bay Lightning on that. In the end, there was just too little Kucherov for the Bolts, and too much Montreal. The Canadiens slammed shut the […]
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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.
