Tuesday, 4 a.m.
Sometimes, Tyler Glasnow is so good he expects to whiff opponents on two strikes.
Glasnow couldn't pull that off Monday night -- he tried -- but he still threw another strong game to lift the Tampa Bay Rays to a 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
Glasnow ran his record to 4-1 with a 2.06 ERA, going six innings and striking out six. But one of the more amusing moments came in this second
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inning, when Glasnow threw a strike past Justin Upton and, thinking it was strike three, walked around the mound to give his infielders time to throw the ball around. However, it was only strike two, which left Glasnow to grin and pat his chest to indicate it was his mistake.
"What else are you going to do?" Glasnow said.
Glasnow, 8-1 over his last 13 starts, allowed four hits in the game. The only blemishes were home runs he gave up to Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon.
In seven starts this season, Glasnow has gone at least six innings six times. In his other start, he went five.
“I felt good," Glasnow said. "The beginning of the game was a lot better. The timing and rhythm was a little out of whack in the fifth and sixth. I’m glad we could scrape out a W. It was good."
Rays' manager Kevin Cash talked about the innings Glasnow has pitched, and pointed out that it helped the bullpen.
"Having starters that are capable and get consistently deep in the game like Glas has done .... you never say it’s night off for the bullpen, but you say you can shave one inning. That goes a long way over the long trip. He’s been outstanding.. He’s doing it pretty quick and allows him to get deep into games.
The Rays' offense scored all it needed in the third inning scoring four times. Mike Brosseau had a two-run single and Yandy Diaz and Manuel Margot had run-scoring hits.
Willy Adames hit a home run in the fourth to make it 5-0, and Margot hit a two-run homer in the ninth.
"We pieced it together, which was encouraging," Cash said. "We’ve scuffled to do that. It was a good sign that Willy smoked one to right-center and hit one out of the park."
Cash did caution against the Rays' climbing number of strikeouts. At one point in the game, the Rays had 14 strikeouts in 28 at bats.
"We’ve got to do a better job of putting balls in play," Cash said. "You’ve got to be encouraged with the runs, but the strikeout totals as of late have gotten too high."
The Rays play the Angels again tonight at Angel Stadium at 9:38 p.m. Shane McClanahan will pitch for the Rays against former Tampa Bay pitcher Alex Cobb.