Rays Use Familiar Script to Get Opening Day Win Over Orioles
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For several years now, the Tampa Bay Rays have been winning a lot of baseball games because they do all the little things right. They pitch like crazy, make a play when they have to and then slam the door shut right in your face with a nasty bullpen
And that model doesn't look like it's changing any time soon, either.
The Rays showed many of their best traits on Friday, beating the Baltimore Orioles 2-1 in front of a sellout crowd at Tropicana Field. They got four-plus shutout innings from starter Shane McClanahan, scratched out the go-ahead run in the eighth with several great at-bats and rode a bullpen to the finish line to start the season off right in a tense thriller right out of the gate.
"That's us. That's what we do,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "We're going to utilize the roster, we're going to use the entire pitching staff.
"That did not feel like a spring training game, and I guess that's a good thing.''
The Rays scored first in the third inning, getting singles from Yandi Diaz, Wander Franco and Randy Arozarena to load the bases, and Diaz scored on a sacrifice fly from Brandon Lowe.
Anthony Santander hit a home run in the sixth inning to tie the game at 1-1. It was a 411-foot shot off reliever Matt Wisler for the left fielder, who's in his sixth year with the Orioles and had 18 homers a year ago.
Franco started off the eighth inning with a hard single to right and then pinch-hitter Ji-Man Choi coaxed an impressive eight-pitch walk. Randy Arozarena then hit a slow roller to third, but he got out of the box quickly and beat the throw to load the bases with none out.
“Those were some very good (at-bats) against some very nasty stuff,'' Cash said. "Ji-Man’s at bat was really impressive, really set the stone and put the leverage for us in that inning when he drew that walk, and the other ones that followed.''.
Brandon Lowe grounded to second, and Ramon Urias came home with the ball to get a force out. Francisco Mejia came on to pinch-hit for catcher Mike Zunino, and he hit a fly ball deep enough to left to score Franco and give the Rays a 2-1 lead.
Two sacrifice flies for the win. The Rays have never done that before, scoring both runs in on sacrifices with no others.
“That was a big at-bat,'' Cash said on his decision to use Mejia in that spot. "We value Frankie when he’s hitting, and he puts the ball in play. (Hitting coach) Chad (Mottola) talks to him about having patience at the plate, and getting the ball in play. That's what he did.''
Josh Lowe walked to load the bases again, but Brett Phillips lined out to end the threat.
In the ninth, J.P. Feyereisen came on to pitch the ninth for the Rays and got two quick outs before giving up a check-swing he-didn't-mean-it single to Rougned Odor. Lefty Brooks Raley came on to face the left-handed-hitting Cedric Mullens, and struck him out to end the game.
The Rays' bullpen pitched 4 2/3 innings and allowed only three hits, with the Wisler homer the only one that did any damage.
The Rays used 19 players on the day, including seven pitchers, and everyone contributed, which in a word, is typical Rays baseball.
"I think when the culture is built that way, and guys know that they need to do the small things right, that makes a difference,'' Zunino said. "We have guys here who are going to be superstars in this game, but when they do all the small things right, that's what wins ballgames.
"There's a selflessness here. Guys are willing to take a walk, get from first to third, guys like Randy and KK (Kevin Keirmeyer) giving us hard 90s to first base, all those little things like that, they give us an edge. And we hold everybody accountable for that. Some days, we'll need all 26, 27 28 guys, whatever it is. But that's what's nice. Every day, you know you might get called on to make a big play.''
McClanahan had to work through early some troubles in his first-ever Opening Day start. He hit a batter with his first pitch, and was in a bases loaded jam with just one out but got out of it.
He also had runners on in three of four other innings, but didn't allow a run. He threw 68 pitches, and his day was done with one out in the fifth, which might be the norm early considering a shortened spring training and the fact that Cash has a lot of faith in all of his bullpen arms.
"We had a mark of roughly 65-75 pitches for him,'' Cash said. ''It was a 1-0 game there, and we wanted him to face Mullens (who singled), but then we wanted to get (JT Chargois) in there because he's really nasty against right-handers.''
Jeffrey Springs pitched a perfect seventh and Andrew Kittredge got through a scoreless eighth.
"That's our backbone, our bullpen,'' Zunino said. "They just attack guys, and we'll just continue to build off that. They'll get even better, too.''
This was the Rays' 25th home opener, and they're now 13-12 all-time. They have won 13 straight games against the Orioles dating back to last summer. They went 18-1 against them a year to tie a major-league for wins in a season against an opponent, and the streak continues.
Franco had three hits for the Rays and started that eighth-inning rally. The 21-year-old became the youngest Tampa Bay player to have three or more hits on Opening Day, and he's the youngest player in the majors to do it since Starlin Castro of the Chicago Cubs had three hits in 2011.
"He's pretty good. He's going to be all right,'' Cash said with a laugh of his young budding superstar. "He's playing again tomorrow.''
The two teams meet again on Saturday at 1:10 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field. Drew Rasmussen (4-1, 2.84 ERA in 2021) gets the start for Tampa Bay.
Baltimore will counter with right-hander Jordan Lyles, who was 10-13 with a 5.15 ERA a year ago.
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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.