Saturday, 4 a.m.
Saturday, 4 a.m.
The hitting was off-line...again.
The run-scoring didn't produce enough ... again.
Ah, but this time, the Rays' pitchers made the offense of the opponent -- the powerful New York Yankees -- look as feeble as their own in a 1-0 victory. After losing six of their previous seven games, the Rays will take it.
Pinch-hitter Michael Perez, on his 28th birthday, knocked in the winning
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run with a sacrifice fly in a hitless eighth inning. He drove in Yoshi Tsutsugo -- who had walked, gone to second on another walk and to third on a wild pitch -- with the only score of the game.
"We've been scuffling here," said manager Kevin Cash "I can’t say enough about the pitching, led by Chaz (Roe) and Nick (Anderson). Mikey after coming off the bench and fouling the ball off his knee. When you win games like that a lot of things have to go your way. You have to play really clean baseball and we did tonight."
In all, six Rays' pitchers allowed only two hits and no runs in a solid effort.
For the Rays, the key inning was the seventh. Tauchman led off with a double, but shortstop Willie Adames made a key play when he threw Mike Tauchman out at third. Neil Anderson struck out Gary Sanchez to end the threat.
Blake Snell started for the Rays and pitched three hitless innings. But he left after three innings and 59 pitches, just six more than his last game.
"I was encouraged by Blake," Cash said. "H.e could have gone back out there. We made the decision. Blake mixed his pitches well. I was really encouraged. When he needs to make a pitch it was there for him."
Snell said caution was best.
“I want to go longer, for sure," Snell said. "But they’re building me up and I’m happy with that. I’m happy with the way they’re going about it. I feel great. I'm definitely happy about that. The next time, I want to go five or 75 pitches. "
The Rays play a double-header today against the Yankees, with both games scheduled for seven innings. The first game is at 2 p.m. The Rays will start Tyler Glasnow against Gerrit Cole.