Sunday, 4 a.m.
There are bruises on the baseball.
There are skid marks on the base paths.
There are dents in the fences.
And the Tampa Bay Rays keep celebrating.
The Rays, expected to be one of the worst hitting teams in the major leagues, continued their barrage on Saturday afternoon. They wore out the Oakland A's, 11-0, to run
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their season record to 8-0. All games have been decided by at least four runs.
-- So far, the Rays have scored 64 runs (compared to 18 for the opposition).
-- They have had 75 hits.
-- They have 21 home runs.
"Hopefully, we’ll continue talking about home runs," said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. "We’re having good at bats, that’s what ’s encouraging."
Oh, Cash knows. As potent as the hitting is, as dominating as the pitching is, as slick as the fielding is, slumps are going to come. But for the present, isn't this fun?
Take Saturday. You would have sworn the odds had caught up to the Rays through three innings. They didn't have a hit, and Jeffrey Springs had just struggled through the second inning (26 pitches).
But then Isaac Paredes had a two-run single, and Randy Arozarena had a two-run single. Then the team broke it open with home runs from Manuel Margot, Brandon Lowe (a three-run shot) and Randy Arozarena.
In all, the Rays had eight hits, five walks were hit by pitches three times.
The Rays close out their series agianst Oakland today at 1:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against James Kaprielian.