Rays stay homer-happy in win over Cleveland

by Gary Shelton on May 18, 2017 · 0 comments

in general

Coreyl Dickerson swinging a hot bat./JEFFREY S.. KING

Corey Dickerson swinging a hot bat./JEFFREY S.. KING

Thursday, 2 a.m.

With the Tampa Bay Rays, you can talk about the team's home runs.

Or you can talk about the ones they take away.

The Rays beat the Indians Wednesday, 7-4, to capture a road swing through Boston and Cleveland. In their latest victory, the Rays hit three more homers for a record 10th in the three game series. It was the first winning road trip in a year.

 Content beyond this point is for members only.

Already a member? To view the rest of this column, sign in using the handy "Sign In" button located in the upper right corner of the GarySheltonSports.com blog (it's at the far right of the navigation bar under Gary's photo)!

Not a member? It's easy to subscribe so you can view the rest of this column and all other premium content on GarySheltonSports.com.

Kiermaier ended the game by taking away a home run./CARMEN MANDATO

Kiermaier ended the game by taking away a home run./CARMEN MANDATO

Still, the win was preserved when Kevin Kiermaier – who appears to be out of his slump, took a homer away from the Tribe's Jason Kipnis.

"I just told myself to get back there quick, because I knew how high he hit it. ... The wind was doing crazy things this whole series, and I just wanted to give myself a chance. Do I want to try climbing the wall right now, or do I jump. I just chose to jump and thankfully I caught the ball at its highest point."

The Rays have been feast-or-famine at the plate. They lead the big leagues in home runs and walks, but they also lead – by a wide margin – in strikeouts. They have had 28 games with 10 or more strikeouts.

"It is (crazy)," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said. "We're still hopeful the strikeouts will kind of come down here. The trade off so far has been pretty good with the walks, and obviously the balls that leave the ballpark."

The Rays have 59 homers in 43 games.

Going long for the Rays this time were Corey Dickerson, Logan Morrison and Jesus Sucre. Dickerson also had three RBI. Tim Beckham had three hits and Dickerson and Sucre had two.

For Morrison, it was close to an anniversary. Last year, he hit his first home run on May 18. This year, he hit No. 11 on May 17.

Alex Cobb got the win for the Rays, giving up three earned runs in seven innings.

The Rays have today off. On Friday, Erasmo Ramirez pitches against New York's Luis Severino.

{ 0 comments… read it below or Subscriptions }

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: