Rays Sweep Red Sox, Celebrate Long-Awaited Return of Yonny Chirinos in 1-0 Win
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Two long years. Two very long years, filled with a little blood and a whole lot of sweat and tears.
That's what it's been for Tampa Bay pitcher Yonny Chirinos, who returned to the mound for the first time since Aug. 16, 2020 on Wednesday night. It was a long 737 days after rehabbing first from Tommy John surgery and then a broken bone in his elbow.
The Rays didn't ease him back in either, pitching the middle three innings of a critical game with the Boston Red Sox. He didn't allow a run, and also made a lot of huge pitches with a lot of runners on base. He allowed four hits, but also struck out four and got the win in the Rays' 1-0 victory. Jeffrey Springs got a short outing, pitching three scoreless, and relievers Colin Poche, Jason Adam and Pete Fairbanks closed the door late.
The win raised the Rays' record to 77-58, and they are 19 games over .500 for the first time all year. This was their second-straight sweep of the Red Sox (67-71) at Tropicana Field and they are now 12-4 against them this season.
Chirinos — a 28-year-old Venezuelan native — was the talk of the locker room afterward.
"I don't know if there are words for what he's been through, just all the time he's missed,'' Rays starter Jeffrey Springs said. "Seeing him last year when I was rehabbing too, the positive attitude every day, it was unbelievable. To see him back pitching, it was very cool to see. I was very happy for him.''
Rays manager Kevin Cash loved every minute of it, too
"I know it was really cool for all of us in the dugout to see that. We're so appreciate of Yonny and all the work he's put in and all the adversity he's dealt with,'' Cash said. "Yonny got in there and picked up, The strike-throwing, the stuff, was really encouraging and he had to make a lot of big pitches in first-and-second situations. He got into some pretty high-leverage spots at 0-0, 1-0 where there really wasn't margin for error.''
Rays outfielder David Peralta —who is also Venezuelan — didn't know Chirinos before Tuesday, but when they talked for the first time, he said Chirinos told him all about his two-year journey. Peralta said it touched his heart just hearing about it all.
"That's special. I just met him and he's told me everything that he went through,'' Peralta said. "To throw three innings, he had to feel really good about himself. That had to be very emotional for him. Two years, that's tough, but it shows you how tough of a guy he his. I could never imagine going two years without baseball, but then to watch him tonight, he went out there and really performed too, when we really needed him. That's what made the night so special.
The Rays only had four hits all night, struggling to figure out Boston starter Nick Pivetta. They finally got to him in the fifth inning, scoring the only run of the game the old-school way. Catcher Francisco Mejia doubled to right field to open the inning, went to third on a deep fly ball to right center from Ji-Man Choi and then scored when shortstop Taylor Walls beat out a slow-rolling grounder into the hole between short and third. He found a way on a 3-2 pitch.
"Even if I was only getting a 30 percent swing on that 3-2, I wanted to get it in play and see what happens,'' said Walls, who also a second hit and several outstanding defensive plays as well. "At that point, you could tell how valuable every run was going to be and, obviously, that turned out to be a big one.
Get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em in.
Poche was perfect in relief in the seventh inning, but Adam and Fairbanks had to sweat a little bit in a one-run game. Adam gave up a single to Tommy Pham and then walked Alex Verdugo. But then he got a ground ball from Trevor Story, a fly out to right by J.D. Martinez and a ground ball from Christian Arroyo to escape the threat. He lowered his ERA to 1.26 on the season.
In the ninth, Fairbanks allowed a one-out walk but then struck out Reese McGuire and then got Kike Hernandez to fly out to right to end the game.
It's a win that Chirinos will never forget, for sure.
"When you trust the process and do the rehab, there were a lot of tears at that point. Now there are a lot of tears of happiness,'' Chirinos said through interpreter Manny Navarro. "To compete and help the team win, that's all I wanted to be able to do.
"It felt really good. I just wanted to compete and it didn't matter how many innings I pitched. It was all about competing and attacking the zone. It was emotional. I haven't been out on the mound for two years, and to have that privilege again to compete, it felt good. After two years, you don't know what to expect. Yes, (there will be tears tonight), but they will be tears of joy.''
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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.