Rays Hang Another Crooked Number, Cool Off Red-Hot Orioles With 5-4 Win
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For all of the good things the Tampa Bay Rays have done this year — and the list is pretty long — one thing they haven't done is have a lot of big, explosive innings. But they did that again on Friday night, scoring four runs in the sixth inning to help beat the red-hot Baltimore Orioles 5-4 at Tropicana Field.
It was the fifth straight win for the Rays (50-40), and the second straight night they did it with a crooked number. They scored five runs in the seventh inning while trailing the Boston Red Sox to win, and did it again Friday, snapping the Orioles' 10-game winning streak, their longest single-season winning streak since 1999. They hadn't lost since July 2.
How the Rays hung that crooked number was equally impressive, too. They had a two-out rally in the sixth thanks to four straight extra-base hits from the bottom of the order, erasing a two-run deficit and chasing Orioles starter Tyler Wells, who had been great up to that point.
The Rays got doubles from right fielder Josh Lowe, newcomer Yu Chang and catcher Francisco Mejia, and then pinch-hitter Christian Bethancourt, another newcomer, hit a two-run homer over the short wall down the left-field line.
“To be able to get it going (was great) with two outs,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “That puts a lot of pressure on teams (when you can score multiple runs in an inning), and certainly when you’re down, to be able to come and get four or five like we’ve got, that was big.'''
Kevin Cash praises the aggressiveness from Yu Chang, the homer from Christian Bethancourt and more after the @RaysBaseball win over the Orioles on Friday night. pic.twitter.com/gYxrafdYc6
— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) July 16, 2022
To see the rally come from those guys was impressive. Lowe was hitting just .187 entering the game and Chang and Bethancourt just got here last week. Mejia is heating up, too, going 7-for-17 (a .412 average) in the past week.
“I’m really encouraged by Josh,'' Cash said. "He got the broken bat hit in the first and was laughing about it. There have been plenty of line drives that he’s barreled up and didn’t have anything to show for it. I don’t know if it ever balances out, but it was good to see him get that one and then he had a double to start the rally.
“And the new guys, hopefully they look at this like a welcoming environment and they can come in and play a big role. (Bethancourt) barely got it out of here, and barely fair. I didn’t know it was a homer. Yu has been hitting the ball hard since he got here. He and (hitting coach) Chad (Mottolo) have talked and it is intent, trying to catch balls out front and driving baseballs. And Frankie, he's been coming up big for us lately.''
The five-game winning streak is their second-longest of the season. They won six straight in Oakland and Seattle in early May. The Rays are 10-4 in their last 14 games and 10-1 against American League foes during that stretch. It was also their 10th straight win against the Orioles at Tropicana Field dating back to last season.
The hot streak has propelled them to the top of the AL wild-card standings, and with the division-leading New York Yankees cooling off a bit lately, the Rays have gained 3 1/2 games on them this week too, now trailing the division race by 12 games. They are now 2 1/2 clear of the final wild-card spot as well, and are just the third AL team to get to 50 wins (New York, Houston).
The Rays got 3 1/3 innings out of starter Luis Patino, who was seeing his first action since the first week of the season, when he left in the first inning of his first start with a left oblique strain. Three months later, he was good to go, allowing two runs and four hits while throwing 56 pitches.
He filled in for Shane Baz, who was scheduled to start but was put on the injured list with an elbow injury.
(Patino), I thought he was good,'' Cash said. "I liked that fact that he came in and threw strikes. I was pleasantly impressed that he got into the fourth (on a pre-planned 55-60 pitch-count limit).''
Shawn Armstrong then got five outs. He allowed three hits, but no runs. Matt Wisler pitched a scoreless sixth inning and Ryan Thompson threw a perfect seventh inning. Colin Poche gave up a two-run homer to Ramon Urias in the eighth inning to make it 5-4, but Brooks Raley pitched a perfect nine to close it out. It was his sixth save of the season, tying him for the team lead with Poche.
The two teams meet again on Saturday. With Jeffrey Springs also on the injured list, Ryan Yarbrough is being called back up from Triple-A Durham to make the start. Yarbrough is 0-4 with a 5.82 earned run average this season. He's pitched 34 innings this season, and has allowed 24 runs, 42 hits, 11 walks and five home runs. The Rays have lost the last seven games he has appeared in.
Dean Kremer (3-1, 2.15 ERA) is starting for Baltimore. He pitched five scoreless innings in a 1-0 victory over the Rays on June 17 in Baltimore. The game starts at 4:10 p.m. ET
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.