Thursday, 4 a.m.
In recent days, the offense of the Tampa Bay Rays has become noticeable for its fireworks. Big hits have led to big innings in big victories.
Wednesday night, they were small.
And it was still pretty good.
The Rays put together an inning of inches in a 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals. They scored all of their runs in the second inning, getting two infield hits, two bunt RBIs and a wild pitch to score all the runs they would need.
The Rays’ Drew Rasmussen improved his record to 7-5, going five innings of two-hit baseball. The Rays’ bullpen went four innings and allowed just one hit.
In the last two games, the Rays have given up just one run and seven hits to a Kansas City team that swept them earlier in the season.
The Rays have now thrown seven shutouts on the season.
The Rays are now 10 games over .500 at 45-35. They remain one game behind the New York Yankees in the AL East.
The Rays scored all of their runs in the second inning. Christopher Morel reached on an infield single. After Josh Lowe singled to right field, Jose Caballero bunted in the Rays’ first run. Chandler Simpson then beat out an infield hit.
A wild pitch brought Lowe home.
Three Rays kept their hitting streaks going. Yandy Diaz now has 15 games in a row. Brandon Lowe has 12 and Jonathan Aranda has 10.
The Rays go for the sweep today at 2:10 p.m. Shane Baz will start for Tampa Bay against Michael Lorenzen.