Adames ended things with a walk-off homer./JEFFREY S. KING
Wednesday, 4 a.m.
For a kid with the "it" factor, Willy Adames has his struggles this season.
He came into Tuesday night's game hitting only .209. He had made four errors in his previous nine games. He has been promoted three times this year and sent down twice.
But this time, the night belonged to Adames. With one swing, he turned off the lights and sent everyone home.
Adames launched a two-out home run to deep left field (438 feet), allowing the Rays to come back and win a 4-3 game over the Baltimore Orioles. Adames hit a 94 mile-an-hour sinker out of the park on a 3-1 pitch. It was
The Rays have won seven walk-offs, including four by home runs./JEFFREY S. KING
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Glasnow went four impressive innings./JEFFREY S. KING
the Rays' seventh walkoff win of the year, their fourth by the home run (Carlos Gomez, Jake Bauers and Daniel Robertson had ended games with the long ball).
At 22 years, 339 days, Adames was the fifth player in francise history to hit a walk-off homer before his 23rd birthday (Jake Bauers, Evan Longoria, Delmon Young and Carl Crawford (twice). Adames is hitting .281 in his last 10 games.
Kolarek threw 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief./JEFFREY S. KING
“Amazing," Adames said. "I tell you the day (Jake Bauers) did it, I felt like it was me. Today when I did it, it’s an amazing feeling. I have no words to explain the feeling that I have right now.”
For the Rays, it was fairly nice, too. It allowed the team to stay above .500 (57-56) and snap a three-game losing streak.
"Willy has had a lot of firsts," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said. "A lot of ups and downs so far here early on. He keeps competing. He got himself in a good hitter’s count and didn’t miss a pitch. That was pretty cool to see. And with a guy like Castro throwing 96-97 (mph), you don’t anticipate it because he’s such a sinkerball pitcher. He keeps the ball on the ground or gets you to miss, but Willy got every bit of that one. That ball went a long way."
Mallex Smith tries to make a catch in center./JEFFREY S. KING
Adames seems to have settled down since Adeiny Hechavarria was designated for assignment (and then traded).
“It kind of relaxes me more and gets me to be working hard," Adames said. "I know I’ll be playing every day now. I’m trying to be consistent.”
Cash agreed.
“I didn’t go and ask him but it can make sense," Cash said. "When you are sitting there and a veteran player that you are playing in front of that you have a lot of respect for, it just adds another dimension to the mindset. You want to try and eliminate those as much as possible for young players.
"If that helps, then so be it. Willy has worked really hard defensively. He works as hard as anybody in our pregame work. It’s nice to see the work
Perez tags a runner out at home./JEFFREY S. KING
that he’s had defensively and now offensively on the velo machine with Chad (Mottola, hitting coach). They have put a lot of work in to get his timing at the plate, shortening him up and getting him trusting what he’s capable of doing and it showed tonight."
It was a good night for the kids in general. Pitcher Tyler Glasnow started and allowed just two hits (and one run) through four innings. Jake Bauers had an RBI single.
Glasnow struck out nine in only four innings.
Romo got the win for the Rays./JEFFREY S. KING
“Probably the strikeouts," Cash said of the most impressive stat. "The stuff, career-high nine strikeouts in four innings of work. That means that there is more to come because he’s going to continue to build up. We are going to get him built to a starter here eventually.
"You don’t see stuff like that throughout the game. He starts out throwing 98-99 mph in the 1st inning. He maintains his velocity, he’s really done a nice job with the curveballs. Michael Perez did a good job blocking balls for him too. Tyler, it looks like he’s getting a rhythm. He’s enjoyed it so far being here and results like that can only help.”
Glasnow was pleased with his effort.
Schultz gave up two runs for Rays./JEFFREY S. KING
“Going out there and staying in a rhythm with that athleticism than try-ing to control certain things with my delivery," Glasnow said. "I felt good physically and I wanted to go out there and attack. Working with Kyle (Snyder, the pitching coach) on how to go about hitters before the game and then during the game, everything was clicking tonight.”
Glasnow thought he could have pitched deeper into the game.
"I like the fact that they aren’t coming up and rushing me or anything," Glasnow said. "I went out after the fourth and I was like I can go another one. They were like, ‘no, don’t go another one.’ They are trying to build me up and not rush me into it. I think it’s a better decision to not have me go back out and rush things with not throwing that many innings before."
The Rays came back from trailing 3-1 in the eighth inning. They scored two runs without a hit in the eighth to set up Adames' home run.
Ryne Stanek opens for the Rays tonight at 7:10 p.m. Andrew Cashner pitches for Baltimore.
Matt Duffy dives back into first base./JEFFREY S. KING
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