This time, the Rays dominate Rich Hill

by Gary Shelton on September 7, 2022

in general

Wednesday, 4 a.m.

Last time, he was the King of the Hill.

This time, he looked like he was over it.

It was only on August 27 that Boston's Rich Hill had been dazzling against his former team. That night, Hill had made the Rays look silly and, at 42, made himself looked ageless. In seven innings, he held the Rays to no runs and three hits and struck out 11.


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Tuesday night?

Not so much.

The Rays jumped all over Hill this time, getting nine hits and five runs in only four innings. The Rays went on to win 8-4, their 11th win in 15 games against Boston.

Tampa Bay jumped to a quick lead, getting hits from the first three batters to take a 3-0 lead on a three-run homer by Randy Arozarena. Arozarena also had two doubles on the night.

"We probably did right by ourselves by not letting Rich get settled in," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said. "We saw how good he can be when he gets on a roll. I’d like to think we made some adjustments. We were ready and we squared some balls up early on."

Boston came back to cut the lead to 3-2, but a two-run single by Harold Ramirez -- on his 28th birthday -- in the third and back-to-back home runs by Christian Bethancourt and Yu Chang in the sixth made the game a runaway.

The Rays are 7-1 in their last eight games.

Arozarena has been hot lately.

"He’s really been playing well lately," Cash said. "Special player, special talent. He can do a lot of things on the baseball field. It certainly feels like he’s trending in the right direction lately."

The Rays go for the sweep tonight at Tropicana Field at 6:40 p.m. Jeffrey Springs will start for the Rays. The Red Sox have not announced their starter.


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