Thursday, 4 a.m.
His sinker is pestilence. His right arm is death.
And when Pete Fairbanks takes the mound these days. it looks a lot like the Grim Reaper has come to call on the opponent.
Fairbanks shortened another game Wednesday night. He turned off the lights of the Boston Red Sox, shutting them out in the ninth for his sixth save of the season. The Rays completed a sweep with the win.
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Lately, that is the way it has gone for the Rays. Fairbanks has been so deadly, so suffocating, that he smothers another team's final chance. This time, he made a 1-0 lead stand up, and he made four measly hits by the Rays look like plenty.
Fairbanks has allowed just one hit in his last 10 appearances, and hasn't allowed a run in his last 16. The Rays don't always use him as a closer -- he has six holds as well -- but when they do, the game is over.
Fairbanks completed a patchwork pitching performance for the Rays. Jeffrey Springs started and went only three innings by design (to get him rest). Yonny Chirinos then came in and threw three shutout innings (four hits) in his first performance in two years. Colin Poche and Jason Adam pitched a shutout inning each.
"It was really cool for all of us in the dugout," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said of Chironos. "I'm so appreciative of Yonny and the work effort he’s put in and how he’s dealt with adversity. That was pretty cool. In the back of our minds, we were trying to give Springs a short outing. The strike throwing and the stuff was really encouraging. He had to make some big pitches."
The Rays' only run came on an infield hit by Taylor Walls, who drove in Frankie Mejia. Walls had a second hit later in the game.
The Rays are off today, then open a series at Yankee Stadium against New York on Friday night (7:10 p.m.). Neither team has announced a starter.