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, Byron 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.
Palacious 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, had a sacrifice fly in the first. Richie 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 hone on another hit by Palacious.
Simpson and Palacious each had three hits. Aranda had two Both Palacious and 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 againdst 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.
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. The Rays managed just four hits. The Sox only had four hits, too, but two of them were solo home runs by Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela.
The Rays had a shot to score off Boston starter Connelly Early in the third. Nick Fortes and Taylor Walls singled, and Yandy Diaz was hit by a pitch.
But Early struck out Randy Vilade, and on the first pitch, Junior Caminero hit into a double play. The Rays had only one more hit the rest of the night.
Starter Jesse Scholtens went 4 2/3 innings and allowed two hits and two earned runs in taking the loss.
The Rays will play against Boston again at Fenway today at 4:10 p.m. Nick Martinez will start for the Rays against Payton Tolle.
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 had two hits on the night.
How about Chandler Simpson? He didn't even start, but he drove in three runs with a single and a triple. He had two hits, too.
Simpson drove in three runs./KIM HUKARI
Then there was Yandy Diaz, who delivered his 1,000th hit. Yeah, he had two hits, too.
Jonny DeLuca had two hits. So did Ben Williamson.
It was enough for the Rays to win their seventh straight game and their 13th in 14 games.
The Rays gave up four runs, their most in 14 games. Considering that the Rays started Griffin Jax as the opener, followed by four relievers, it's permissible.
Hunter Bigge got his first win for the Rays.
The Rays and Red Sox play again tonight at 7:10 p.m. at Fenway. Jesse Scholtens will start for the Rays against Connelly Early.
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 […]
Monday, 3 a.m. He changes the scoreboard, that’s all. It should say that on Jonathan Aranda’s business card. Some players hit more home runs. Some steal more bases. Aranda? He drives in runs. When you boil the game of Jonathan Aranda down to its essence, it is this: He clears the bases. Aranda’s fourth hit […]
Sunday, 4 a.m. Given as how they are visiting Florida, perhaps the San Francisco Giants can take in some sights. You know, like home plate at Tropicana Field. The scoring woes of the Giants, baseball’s lowest scoring team, continued on Saturday night in a 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays have given […]
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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.
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