Friday, 3 a.m.
You look for teams that have done this, and alas, you won't find any.
The history-making Tampa Bay Rays, came from behind and won yet again Thursday afternoon, sweeping the Boston Red Sox 9-3. It was the team's 13th straight win, which ties the record set by the '87 Brewers and the '82 Braves. No one since the turn of the century can match what the Rays have done.
This time, the Rays fell behind, and they lost starting pitcher Jeffrey Springs to an injury, and bloops kept finding holes. Still, a seven-run fifth inning highlighted yet another Rays win.
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How impressive are the Rays? They've outscored opponents 101-30. To compare, the '82 Braves outscored opponents 67-31. The '87 Brewers outscored opponents 92-51.
Consider this: Before this season, the Rays had started 25 seasons. In 18 of them, they had a losing record after 13 games in 18 of them.Twice, they had won 10 of their first 13, but besides those years, they had only one season with eight or more wins.
And now they are 13-0. Soon, members of the old Miami Dolphins will be standing outside the foul lines.
In other words, no one has been as dominating as the Rays, a team that wasn't supposed to be able to hit.
Just ask Alex Cora, who won the Oops Award of the day. Former Ray Corey Kluber was dominating his old club in the fifth inning when Cora decided to pull Kluber so Richard Bleier could pitch to Brandon Lowe.
It didn't work. Lowe had been 0-5 against Kluber, and all five outs had been by strikeout. But Lowe singled up the middle on Bleier's first pitch to tie the game.
The Rays went on to have a seven-run, six-hit inning, effectively shutting down the game.
Lowe later would hit his fifth home run in six days (five starts). Yandy Diaz also homered.
Harold Ramirez had three hits, including two doubles and three RBI. Frankie Mejia and Randy Arozarena had singles to right to drive in runs on balls below the strike zone. Manuel Margot drove in a run with a bunt single with the bases loaded.
"Just the overall quality if the at bats (was impressive)," Rays’ manager Kevin Cash said. "I can’t say we foresaw that coming, but we’ve got a bunch of guys that are seeing the ball well right now. We've come up with some timely hitting. That might have been the most timely to date.
"Margot's bunt certainly shocked me."
The only damper on the afternoon was Springs' injury. He seemed confident it wasn't a huge deal afterward, but it does mean three of the Rays' five-man rotation are currently injured.
The Rays go for the major league record tonight in Toronto at 7:07 p.m. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against Jose Berrios.