Short & Sweet: Rays Blow Out Cubs 8-2 in Rain-Shortened Game, End Trip on High Note
CHICAGO, Ill. — It's been cold and windy all week in Chicago, and on Wednesday night, the rain finally found its way to Wrigley Field. Thankfully for the Tampa Bay Rays, though, they had already put up a night's worth of runs before Mother Nature said ''go home!''
The Rays won 8-2 for their second straight win, and took the series after losing Monday's open. They finished their week in Chicago win a 3-3 record and are 7-6 on. the season.
They've played 13 games in 13 days — the longest stretch of games to start the season for anyone in baseball, and the longest in Rays history, too. They'll get Thursday off back at home, and then will see the Boston Red Sox for the first time, starting a three-game series on Friday night.
Catcher Francisco Mejia was the hitting star for the Rays, who scored four time in the first inning — which was moved up more than an hour to try to beat the rain. They added a run in the second and three more in the fifth.
Frankie says goodbye!
— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) April 20, 2022
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Mejia hit a two-run home run in the first, his second of the year, to cap the scoring. It started with a Brandon Lowe walk, and he scored on a double by Randy Arozarena. They got their second run when Arozarena stole third and the errant through went into the outfield, and he scored. Ji-Man Choi walked just ahead of Mejia's homer.
Taylor Walls, who's had a hot bat of late, led of the second with a single. The was forced out at second on a Lowe ground ball, but then he scored when Wander Franco doubled to deep left to make it 5-0.
The Cubs scored twice in the third inning, with Frank Schwindel's double being the big blow, but then the Rays blew the game open in the fifth with three more runs. Josh Lowe had an RBI triple to right, and Mejia and Kevin Kiermaier followed with RBI doubles.
Leg it out!
— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) April 21, 2022
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Josh Lowe, the Rays' highly touted rookie outfielder, had two hits – a double and that triple — his second multi-hit game of the season. He's hitting .320 in his last four games, and his season batting average is back to .200.
The Rays scored all eight runs off of Cubs starter Marcus Stroman, their big offseason acquisition who got a thee-year, $71 million contract. He allowed eight runs — which tied a career high. Seven runs were earned over 4 1/3 innings and the former Toronto Blue Jays standout now has an 8.78 earned run average over three starts.
“I’ve got to be better,” Stroman said after the game. “I can’t spot my team five runs down in the first (and second innings) and expect to get a win. That’s not even realistic. The second I leave here I’ll be doing some dry work and anything I can to put myself in abetter position before [the] next start.
“I’m just off right now, just a mess a bit mechanically. I can’t find any rhythm. Nothing seemed synonymous, every pitch essentially feels like I’m doing something different mechanically. So it just kind of comes and goes in stretches. I feel great for an inning or a few batters and then kind of just lose it. So it’s frustrating.”
The rains came prior to the bottom of the sixth, and the game was called about an hour later
Drew Rasmussen started for the Rays, but only lasted three innings. He gave up two runs and threw 79 pitches, 31 of which were balls. He walked two batters and got deep in to counts with several others. Jalen Beeks pitched two scoreless and hitless innings, and got the win (1-0).
The Rays scored 23 runs in their three wins in Chicago, and are starting to heat up, up and down the lineup. They have 60 runs on the season, tied for third-best in the American League, and they are just starting to scratch the surface. They are just a half-game behind the Blue Jays and New York Yankees — they're both 7-5 — in the American League race.
“We're slowly but surely getting guys locked in, and I said the other day we haven't even caught our groove yet,” Kiermaier told mlb.com. “We definitely are not playing our best baseball right now. … But we showed up to play. Had some tough games we lost there versus the White Sox and even the first game here, but we finished it off the right way. It'll be a good flight back home, and we'll all be excited to drive to The Trop come Friday, for sure.”
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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.