Thursday, 4 a.m.
Don't pay any attention to the skies. When the Tampa Bay Rays' bats are swinging, it's always good weather.
With rainy weather in the forecast, the Rays started their game against the Cubs early Wednesday night. For the Rays, it was right on time.
The Rays, once again, came out with hot bats and cruised to an 8-2 victory in 5 1/2 innings. Tampa Bay scored four in the first inning and three in the fourth to build their big lead.
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“We needed to play better baseball than the way it started out," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said. "I'm happy with the way the guys bounced back. I'm encouraged by that. Today was a good performance. I know the game was cut short, but we did some good things early against (Marcus) Stroman, who’s a talented pitcher. We didn’t give in. We had good at bats. We had some timely hitting."
Frankie Mejia, with 10 RBI on 26 at-bats this season, had a two-run homer. Randy Arozarena, Wander Franco and Kevin Kiermaier all had RBI doubles and Josh Lowe had an RBI triple.
Starter Drew Rasmussen went only three innings for the Rays, but Jalen Beeks came in and threw two shutout innings.
"I thought he competed really well," Cash said. He drove his pitch count up a little higher than what we’re comfortable with to send him out for the fourth, but competed well. He made good pitches when we needed it. He bent a little but didn’t break."
The Rays, after 13 straight games, have a day off today. They will play at 7:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field Friday, when Corey Kluber will start against former Ray Michael Wacha.