Friday, 4 a.m.
The Rays finally resumed hitting Thursday afternoon.
Scoring? Not so much.
Despite getting nine hits and walking seven times, the Rays had to make three early runs stand up in a series-evening, 3-1 victory over the Texas Rangers. The Rays left 11 men on base and were just two-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
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That was enough thanks to a strong start by Corey Kluber (2-2) and three shutout innings by five relievers. The Rays are now 30-21 on the season.
“The first guy gets on base, it doesn’t faze him whatsoever,” said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. "He. Just keeps executing pitches.He mixed well, had a good breaking ball for the righties, was able toto kind of criss-cross to the lefties with the cutter and the two seamer. He just got a lot of early count outs."
The Rays, whose bats had been anemic against starting pitchers the last week, scored one in the second and two in the third for all the runs they would need. Vidal Brujan, starting his first game at short, doubled in one run and was superb in the field.
"What a day he had today," Cash said. "He couldn’t have been better. Rangy, ... covered a ton of ground, made big throws. He picked us up and got us going offensively."
Manuel Margot, Harold Ramirez and Yandy Diaz all had two hits for the Rays.
The Rays return to Tropicana Field tonight at 7:10 p.m. to face the Chicago White Sox. Shane McClanahan will start for the Rays against Vince Velasquez