Deluca, not normally a slugger, turned the game for the Tampa Bay Rays Monday night.
Deluca, who had only eight home runs in his previous three seasons with the Rays, took over the game late in a 3-2 win over Milwaukee at American Family Field.
In the seventh inning, Deluca hit a 438-foot home run, the longest of his career. Then, in the ninth, Deluca worked a walk. He then scored all the way from first on a double by Nick Fortes.
Deluca finished the game hitting .417.
Yandy Diaz led the game off with a hone run to left. He and Junior Caminero each had two of the Rays' seven hits.
Nick Martinez started for the Rays and went six innings and allowed two earned runs.
The bullpen, which struggled in the team's opening series at St. Louis, had good night. Griffin Jax, Garrett Cleavinger, Ian Seymour and Kevin Kelly combined for three shutout innings.
Shane McClanahan returns to the mound tonight at 7:40 p.m. He will oppose the Brewers' Brandon Woodruff.
The Tampa Bay Lightning spend much of Sunday afternoon sleep-walking.
They were dull and uninspired. They got off only one shot in the entire first period. They won only two face-offs. They were one tick above being comatose.
And still, they won.
Somehow, they won. Without Andrei Vasilevskiy in net, without Nikita Kucherov in the lineup, they beat Nashville 3-2 at Benchmark International Arena.
Brandon Hagel and Jake Guentzel each scoreed their 35th goal. Corey Perry scored the winner with 6:52 left.
The Bolts have points in thier last eight games. For the time being, they are tied with Buffalo for first place in the Atlantic Division with 98 points.
Backup goalie Jonas Johanssson stopped 29 of 31 shots.
The Bolts play Montreal at Benchmark at 7 p.m. Tuesday night.
Offense. Following their first win, the Tampa Bay Rays want you to talk about their offense.
They want you to talk about an opening weekend in which they scored 23 runs, and one in which they compiled 41 hits.
They want you to talk about Yandy Diaz, who had five hits and four RBI in Sunday’s 11-7 victory over St. Louis. They want you to talk about Jonathan Aranda,who had three hits and two RBI. They want you to remember the team was up 7-1 in the first game and 5 -4 in the 10th inning of the second.
Aranda had three hits, two RBI./TIM WIRT
The pitching? Don't mention it. Please. Don't.
The Rays had to work hard to shake the Cardinals on Sunday. They had a 6-1 lead and looked as if they would run away. But St. Louis scored three in the fourth to come within two runs. The Cardinals had two baserunners in the fifth, one in the sixth, three in the seventh. They scored three in the eighth.
Still, the offense kept pounding. Diaz led the way (he has nine hits in three games, a team record to start as season). Chandler Simpson and Jonny Deluca each had two hits.
Steven Matz started for the Rays and gave up four runs in five innings.
The Rays now travel to Milwaukee for three games. In the opener, Nick Martinez will start for the Rays against Kyle Harrison tonight at 7:40 p.m. at American Family Field.
Yeah, they start slow. Yeah, they dig themselves a hole too often. Yeah, they tend to turn games into uphill climbs.
But on days such as Saturday, the Tampa Bay Lightning treats slow starts as minor inconveniences.
The Bolts fell behind for the fifth straight game, and they fell behind by two goals for the fourth straight, before waking up and taking a 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators at Benchmark International Arena.
The Bolts started slow, and struggled to get their offense going in the first period. But they charged back with two goals each in the second and the third.
Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy won his 35th game, stopping 25 of 27 shots.
Emil Lilleberg scored the wining goal 8:51 into the third period. He had a goal and two assists in the game.
Also scoring for the Bolts were Brandon Hagel, Charle-Edouard D'Astous and Jake Geuntzel (his 34th on the year).
The Bolts try to get off to a better start today when they play against Nashville (and former teammate Steven Stamkos) at 5 p.m. at Benchmark.
Sunday, 3 a.m. Another day, another slice of agony for the Rays’ bullpen. The Rays, who gave up an eight-run sixth inning in Thursday’s opener, gave up two runs without recording an out in the 10th inning of Saturday’s game. The result was a blown comeback by the Rays and a 6-5 loss to St. […]
Friday, 4 a.m. Maybe the Tampa Bay Lightning should stop giving their opponent a head start. Lately, games of the Lightning have followed a familiar pattern. They start slow. They catch up. And then it’s a coin flip. For the third straight game, the Bolts fell behind 3-1, this time to Seattle in Thursday night’s […]
Friday, 4 a.m. If Opening Day can be viewed as an opening statement, there was only one message delivered by the Tampa Bay Rays Thursday. Oops. The Rays dropped their first game, 9-7, to the St. Louis Cardials at Busch Stadium. Along the way, there were several misstatements, and misplays, by the Rays. — Their […]
Wednesday, 4 a.m. For a period and a half, the Tampa Bay Bay Lightning looked as if it was still somewhere on the road. The Bolts, after a return from the west coast, were sluggish and sleepy looking. They fell behind 2-0 in the first period and 3-1 midway through the second. Turns out, there […]
Monday, 4 a.m. Spend enough time on the road, and some stretches are going to turn rocky. Ask the Tampa Bay Lightning, who saw their excellence away from home end in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The Bolts, who took seven of eight points on their latest road […]
Sunday, 4 a.m. Are there any adjectives left? Are there any superlatives that haven’t been used to describe the brilliance of Nikita Kucherov? Probably not. If the word is laudatory, then it’s probably been used to describe Kucherov. Once again, Kucherov was dazzling again in Saturday night’s 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at 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.
