Wednesday, 4 a.m.
Perhaps your view was obstructed as you tried to watch the Tampa Bay Rays Tuesday night.
After all, it can be hard to see when your fingers are covering your eyes.
The Rays opened their 7-2 victory over the Miami Marlins with horrible news as starter Shane McClanahan was scratched from his start with shoulder impingement. McClanahan was 11-5 coming into the game and is in the conversation as a potential Cy Young award winner.
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“I think he’s been dealing with what all pitchers with 140 innings deal with," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said. "I applaud him for going down there and getting it loose and just not feeling right. Right now, I think we’re all fairly optimistic that he’s going to be fine.
"We kind of had it in our minds that we were going to shorten up the start today anyway. Kind of what we did with Ras a month ago. We’ll let the doctors examine gum and probably some imaging will take place, but I’m personally confident he’s going to be okay."
Even with the bad news, the Rays responded with a solid game. The bullpen -- roused quickly into action -- was excellent, and the offense had another strong game.
Start with the bullpen. The Rays used seven pitchers, and six of them threw shutout baseball. Only Garrett Cleavinger gave up two runs (on three hits), but Shawn Armstrong, J.T. Chargois, Brooks Raley, Jason Adam, Pete Fairbanks and Colin Poche tamed the Marlins.
Meanwhile, the offense had its second straight superb game. The offense has 31 hits and 19 runs over its last two games.
This time, the stars included:
-- Jose Siri, who arrived as a weak-hitting outfielder but has found his stroke lately. In his last 17 games, Siri is hitting .316, and his season average has increased from .170 to .208. Siri also made an excellent throw and a catch as he crashed into the wall. He also homered.
-- Randy Arozarena had three hits, including a home run, and took over the major league lead in RBI for August (21).
-- Yandy Diaz and Harold Ramirez also had two hits.
Siri has three multi-hit games in his last four after having just one for his previous 40 games.
"You’re not going see much more," Cash; said of Siri. "Power. Unbelievable play, unbelievable throw. We know about his speed. He had a special night."
The Rays close out their short series with the Marlins tonight at 6:40 p.m. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against a yet-to-be announced Marlin.