Perfect Kittredge Closes Out Rays' 6-5 Tense Win Over Cubs
CHICAGO, Ill. — This was an ''opener'' game for the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night, but the highlight was the closer.
With the Rays' pitching dance line getting long, it looked like Andrew Kittredge was going to need to pitch the final two innings to close this one out against the Chciago Cubs. He did just that, getting through a 1-2-3 eighth inning on just nine pitches and then getting two strikeouts and a first-pitch ground out to seal a 6-5 victory at chilly Wrigley Field.
“He’s so good and so valuable to what we’re doing,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said afterward. "He can throw one inning, two innings, wraparound. He’ll pitch any role and we needed him right then the way it stacked up.
“It landed Kitt where we needed two innings from him and he couldn’t have been more efficient.‘’
Kittredge, who has been in the Rays' bullpen for six years now, has pitched multiple innings often in his career, but it was the first time he's done it this season. He needed to do it do, nursing a 6-5 lead through those last two innings.
He stayed aggressive, which was his style, and kept all six hitters off balance. No one hit the ball hard, and the Rays got themselves a win, evening their record at 6-6. They'll play one more game on Wednesday in their season-opening stretch of 13 games in 13 days.
It was Kittredge's second save of the season. Josh Fleming (2-1) was the winning pitcher.
"I just tried to stick to my game plan, which is to just be aggressive, said Kittredge, who has allowed just one run and three hits in six innings of work this season. "I was able to get ahead of guys and stay aggressive.
"We weren't playing great baseball, so to get a good team win, it was big. Any time you can slow the skid a little bit, it was good for us.''
The Rays got to Cubs starter Justin Steele early and often, chasing him in the third inning, which was something of a surprise considering he had been very good in his first two starts for Chicago. He came into the game with two team wins and a 1.93 earned run average.
The Rays got on the board first in the second inning. Third baseman Yandi Diaz doubled to right and then went to third on a fly ball and scored on a grounduout by Maneul Margot.
In the third inning, Tampa Bay shortstop Wander Franco launched a ball into the left field bleachers for a two-run homer, giving the Rays a 3-0 lead. Franco missed last night's game with quadriceps tightness, but didn't miss a beat. He went 3-for-5 on the night, his fourth three-hit game of the season, tied for the best in baseball. He’s had seven multi-hit games in 11 appearances so far this season, and is hitting .404.
“It was good to get the bats going, and Wander came up big for us,'' Cash said. He’s been playing really well all season long. It was great to have him back in the lineup. He's unique, special, talented. We're seeing every part of his game.''
The Rays kept pounding away on Steele, going up 4-0 with an RBI single from Brandon Lowe. He drove in first baseman Harold Ramirez, who had walked. That was it for Steele, who was replaced by Jesse Chavez.
The Cubs finally got on the board in the fourth, getting to Tampa Bay left-handed reliever Josh Fleming. He gave up a single to Ian Happ, and then Cubs first baseman Frank Schwindel doubled to left, scoring left fielder Happ.
With two outs, pinch-hitter Patrick Wisdom hit a rocket into the left-field bleachers for a home run to cut the lead to 4-3. Wisdom also homered Monday night against Rays starter Shane McClanahan, who's also left-handed.
The Rays threatened in the fifth, with Randy Arozarena walking to open the inning. Franco doubled off the wall in left, and Arozarena tried to score, but was thrown out at home on a bang-bang play. The Rays challenged the call, but it stood after a lengthy review.
The Rays stretched the lead in the seventh, scoring two runs on a triple by Taylor Walls, a double by Arozarena and a single by Ramirez to go ahead 6.3. But the Cubs answered right back, scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh off relievers Brooks Raley and Ryan Thompson.
Walls had a big game, too, getting those two hits and making a big defensive play to end the seventh. He's been scuffling a bit to start the season, especially defensively, so it was big for him to have such a huge role in a big team win.
"Taylor's got plenty of confidence, and I was happy to see him get a big hit and help us get a big win,'' Cash said.
The two teams will wrap up the series on Wednesday night, with first pitch scheduled for 7:40 p.m. ET. There are rainy weather concerns, however. Drew Rasmussen (0-1, 5.00 ERA) is scheduled to start for Tampa Bay, with Marcus Stroman (0-1, 6.00 ERA) starting for the Cubs.
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.