Rays Avoid Sweep Again, Beat Twins With Another Scoreless Outing By Jeffrey Springs
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Minnesota Twins have owned Tampa Bay pitching this season, but they have no such contract with crafty left-hander Jeffrey Springs.
Springs pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings on Sunday, allowing just two hits and shutting down a Twins offense that had scored 33 runs during four-straight wins over Tampa Bay this season. The Rays won 6-0 to salvage a game in the series, avoiding another sweep. The Rays haven't been swept in a series of three games or more since last June 17-20 at Seattle, the longest stretch in the majors.
Springs has been spectacular since moving into the rotation last month. This was his fifth scoreless outing in his past eight appearances, and his ERA is now down to 1.45, the lowest in the majors for pitchers with 49 innings or more.
Yep, you've read that right.
Lowest in the majors.
“I thought I was able to mix and move pretty well, but I would have liked to have thrown at least 15 less pitches for sure, especially only going five and a third,'' Springs said in a jubilant postgame locker room. “They’re a good lineup. You watch them yesterday and they can score a lot of runs quickly. One through nine, they’re good. Keeping them at bay today, I was definitely pleased with that. They can score really quickly over there and they can really swing the bat, so I’ll definitely take it.''
Springs has tossed 13 straight scoreless innings, and the Rays are now 5-1 in his last six starts. The only game he lost was a 2-0 decision to the New York Yankees where he had a no-hitter through five innings.
He's been that good. And it helped a lot that he got plenty of run support on Sunday at Target Field, with the Rays getting a run in the third inning, two more in the fourth and another pair in the fifth while Springs was in the game.
“It was a lot of fun (watching the offense),'' Springs said. "We’ve got a really good lineup. I know there are times where they might struggle to score runs and things like that, but I’ll go to war with them every day of the week. They're good and it’s just a matter of time before they get in rolling and get dangerous.''
Springs thew a career-high 94 pitches, which he admitted was too many. He prides himself on efficiency, so he felt like he was forced out of the game earlier than he would have liked. He walked his last batter with one out in the sixth, and Matt Wisler had to come in to finish the inning.
“I knew the pitch count was getting up there and if I could have had a clean inning, they were going to let me finish it,'' Springs said. "That’s why they sent me back out there. It’s just frustrating. I’d rather give up a hit all day than give up a walk like that.
''That’s too many pitches in five and a third, to be honest. They’re good hitters and they made me work some deep counts and things like that. Overall I felt pretty good. I got a little gassed there toward the end. I can’t change it now. I’ve got to challenge him and not end it on a walk. I’m definitely just trying to build off of each one. Just trying to learn from the adjustments I need to make from outing to outing.''
The Rays got on the board in the third inning with some small ball. Right fielder Brett Phillips led off the inning with a walk, went to second on wild pitch, advance to third on a ground out and scored on an infield single by Ji-Man Choi.
Choi has now hit safely in 11 straight games, the longest streak of his career.
Tampa Bay added two more runs in the fourth. Randy Arozarena was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, then stole second and went to third when Kevin Kiermaier reached safely on a throwing error by Twins starter Sands. He scored on a ground ball to first, barely beating the throw home to make it 2-0. Vidal Brujan drove in the third run with a single.
In the fifth, Manuel Margot led off with a double, and then scored on a two-out double by Arozarena. He then scored on a Kiermaier single, making it 5-0. Kiermaier added a solo homer in the seventh as well, and was 2-for-4 on the day. It was his third multi-hit game in a row.
Jalen Beeks, Calvin Faucher and Colin Poche all pitched scoreless innings in relief.
The Rays (35-25) are off on Monday, and then start a critical three-game series with the AL East-leading New York Yankees on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. The Rays will start Corey Kluber, Shane McClanahan and Drew Rasmussen in the three night games. The Yankees will go with Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes and Luis Severino.
The Yankees are 44-16 on the season, by far the best record in baseball. They have a nine-game lead on the third-place Rays.
Watch Jeffrey Springs' postgame interview
.@RaysBaseball lefty Jeffrey Springs was proud of his strong start Sunday but says he would have liked to keep his pitch count down. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/cHqQ5b5kHr
— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) June 12, 2022
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