Baby Time! Rays' Rasmussen Placed on Paternity List, Will Miss Tuesday Start
Updated 7 p.m. ET
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tampa Bay pitcher Drew Rasmussen did his usual pre-start media routine on Monday, and spent most of the time breaking down his projected Tuesday start against the Boston Red Sox.
But Rasmussen and his wife, Stevie, are also expected a baby boy. "It's any day now. We're on baby watch for sure,'' Rasmussen said. "I asked her if we could wait another 36 hours or so, but we're not going to have any control over that.''
As it turned out, they didn't. The Rays placed Rasmussen on the paternity list on Tuesday afternoon after their son, Rhett, was born on Tuesday morning.
Rasmussen missed his start against the Red Sox. The Rays activated Yonny Chirinos from the 60-day injured list, and the Rays will use another bullpen day.
JT Chargois will be the opener. He's been good since returning from injury, allowing just one earned run in 6 1/3 innings.
The Rays will miss Rasmussen, who was the American League's Pitcher of the Month in August. He's 9-4 with a 2.70 ERA and in August was 3-1 with a 1.57 earned run average.
He was looking forward to a September start, especially in the thick of a playoff race, but that will have to wait a few days now. The baby boy is the couple's first child.
"This last series with New York and now with Boston, they feel like playoff series. The intensity is a little higher, the attention to detail a little bit higher,'' Rasmussen said. "It comes with the territory with being in the hunt. It's exactly the feeling you want to feel at this point. It's going to make this last month very exciting.
"I try to take every day exactly the same no matter what time of year it is. Every game is important, all No. 1 to No. 162, they're all similar, but now we're getting down to the wire, it makes it a little more fun. Having some experience should help.''
Chirinos hasn't pitched in the big leagues in more than two years. He made two starts in 2020 when the COVID-delayed season finally started, but he needed Tommy John surgery a few weeks later. He's had a few hiccups in his recovery, too.
Tuesday night's game starts at 6:40 p.m. ET.
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Tom Brew is the publisher of Inside The Rays, and has been with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation network for three years. He is an award-winning writer and editor who has spent most of his four-decade career at the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has written four books.