Thursday, 4 a.m.
Finally, could this be the start of the Vidal Brujan years?
Oh, he has played baseball for the Tampa Bay Rays before, not that you would notice. But until Wednesday, Brujan had never matched the hype of his minor league seasons.
Then came the 10th inning, of a game that felt as if it was slipping away, and Brujan was the catalyst in a 4-2,10-inning win by Tampa Bay over the Los Angeles Angels.
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He doubled on the first pitch he saw in the 10th inning, driving in the ghost-runner. He then stole third and scored on a single by Harold Ramirez.
Brujan had been 0-for-9 this season in the major leagues, and he was just two-for-26 a year ago. But when Manny Margot tweaked his hamstring, the Rays called Brujan back up from Durham.
"His at-bats have been good," said Rays manager Kevin Cash. "He’s been hitting some balls hard and he didn’t have much to show for it until the big double off Aaron Loup. Good to see him have some success. We heard he was playing well down there. It looks like his made some adjustments to his stance. He's more upright in the box. He looks very comfortable. It showed today."
The win ended a three-game losing streak for the Rays. In the first two games against the Angels, the Rays gave up 23 runs and 29 hits.
Rays' starter Shane McClanahan stopped all of that with his best pitching performance. He threw seven innings of three-hit, shutout baseball.
“He was outstanding," Cash said. "Electric. He just he continues to back up every outing with another strong performances and gives us chances to win. Getting no-hit and facing Ohtani is not the best thing to do. We knew he had to buy the offense a little time and he did that and then some."
McClanahan struck out 11 in his stint.
The Angels came back to tie the game in the eighth, however, when Taylor Ward hit a pinch-hit home off Andrew Kittredge . It was the second straight outing in which Kittredge has given up a homer.
The Rays won despite getting just five hits. The biggest of those was a second-inning home run by Kevin Kiermaier. Taylor Walls scored on a fielder's choice by Yandy Diaz.
The game concluded a 10-game swing on the West Coast for the Rays.
They are off today, then return to play on Friday night when they host Toronto at Tropicana Field. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:10 p.m.