Adames homered in his Rays' debut./CARMEN MANDATO
Wednesday, 2 a.m.
Adames was impressive in his first game./CARMEN MANDATO
The future can be painful enough.
A glimpse into the future? That looks nicer.
The Rays added to their pain in Tuesday night's 4-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox. In the third inning, the team lost pitcher Jake Faria to a left oblique strain. Later in the inning, a pitch in the dirt bounced up and knocked catcher Wilson Ramos from the game with a hand laceration.
“It turned out to be a better game than we were looking at when Jake (Faria) came out of the ballgame,"Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Obviously we did some frustrating things out on the field. I think overall you have to be fairly impressed with the way the guys put the pressure on obviously (Craig) Kimbrel, but even
Adames was in a rush to get here; fans will feel the same./CARMEN MANDATO
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Ramos injured his hand in the third inning./CARMEN MANDATO
Faria suffered an oblique strain for Rays./CARMEN MANDATO
Chris Sale. We had some better at-bats than maybe we had in the past [against Sale], just came up short. (Austin) Pruitt came in and picked us up in a big way. (Ryne) Stanek found a way to get through that inning and we kept the score there to give us every opportunity. Had a lot of good at- bats right there off Kimbrel. Mallex (Smith) hits a ground ball, but we had the guys in the right spots.”
While the team winced over the loss of Faria and Ramos, however, it also presented a nice image. Prospect Willie Adames, in town for a brief call-up, hit a home run in his debut off of Boston star Chris Sale.
Adames, who had been hitting .311 in Durham, arrived at the Trop only shortly before the game. He is here to play instead of Joey Wendle, who is on paternity leave after his wife Lindsay had their son.
“It was amazing, man," Adames said. "You see all those guys on TV, and then
Pruitt allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings./CARMEN MANDATO
you come here and hit a bomb against Sale. That’s an amazing feeling. I can’t tell you how happy I am right now. We didn’t get the win, but probably tomorrow we’ll get it. ...I think it calmed me down a little bit, because I was a little nervous in the 1st inning.
“It was pretty crazy. They told me at 1:20 that I had a flight at 2:50. So I missed the first flight, but then I took another one at 3:30. But it was pretty crazy. Everything went fast. I got here late, too, almost 40 minutes before the game. Maybe 35 (minutes). It was crazy.”
Rays' manager Kevin Cash liked what he saw of Adames.
Stanek pitched a scoreless ninth./CARMEN MANDATO
“That was pretty special for him," Cash said. "The home run, the at-bats, the intensity. I know that last at-bat, he wanted to be in that spot and that’s part of what we like so much about him. He looked good on defense. He looked the part. That’s the second guy here recently who has come up between him and Christian Arroyo who have definitely looked the part with the confidence and it’s good to see.”
Sale gave up four hits in 7 2/3 innings of pitching. The Rays loaded the bases in the ninth against reliever Craig Kimbrel, but could not score.
The Rays listed Ramos as day-to-day. They'll examine Faria this morning to see how long he will be out.
Daniel Robertson was hit by a pitch./CARMEN MANDATO
“He’s going to miss some time," Cash said. "We’ll get him checked out tomorrow before we announce anything, but in all fairness, he’s going to get looked at and we will have to make a decision.”
The news was better on Ramos.
“He should be fine," Cash said. "He got squared up in Anaheim basically in the same spot. I think when he went to block the ball his glove got caught on his shin guard and left it where his thumb got caught. It hurts. After having that already happen two days ago for it to happen again, it was time for him to get out. He’s confident with the treatment so far that he should be ok tomorrow.”
Faria was irked, once again, at how he pitched. He gave up a three-run homer to Mookie Betts (his 16th) on his way to the loss. Rafael Devers also homered.
“If it’s not one thing, it’s another," Faria said. "Today I actually felt pretty good, other than the home run. Thought everything felt pretty good. Just everything up to this point has been a complete letdown. I haven’t done anything to help this team win ballgames. Just another way of me letting them down.”
The Rays play the Red Sox again tonight at 7:07. Former Ray David Price will pitch against Chris Archer.
Miller had a pinch-hit double in the ninth inning./CARMEN MANDATO
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