Thursday, 3 a.m.
That Manuel Margot is something.
And that Corey Kluber? Well, he's plenty of nothing.
Together, the pair sparked the Tampa Bay Rays to their first road sweep of the season Wednesday afternoon, teaming up to lead the Rays to a 3-0 win in one of the tightest pitchers' duels the team has been involved in.
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Kluber threw six innings of three-hit, shutout baseball for the Rays. He needed to, because the A's had Frankie Montas going, who threw seven innings of four-hit, shutout baseball. As long as both were in the game, the opposing offenses were well in hand.
However, the Rays' bullpen was better than Oakland's, and Margot had a two-strike, two-out single to right with the bases loaded to scored two runs in the eighth inning. The third run scored on a balk.
Margot has been impressive as of late. He was seven-for-13 against Oakland in the sweep.
Rays' manager Kevin Cash was asked about being patient against Montas.
"We didn’t have a choice to not be patient," he laughed. (Montas) was outstanding. It's a good thing Corey went right with him. There was really strong pitching performance by both sides.
"Margot had a tremendous series for us. It's nice to see him heating up. He has a very contact-oriented approach. He can really work an at-bat and puts pressure on the pitcher to get it over the plate."
Once again, the Rays' bullpen was strong, covering three innings and giving up only one hit and no runs.
The Rays now to move to Seattle to face the Mariners. In tonight's game (9:40 p.m.), Shane McClanahan will start against Robbie Ray.