Drew Rasmussen Twirls Another Gem in Rays' 5-2 Win Over Royals
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It took all of six pitches to end any perfect-game drama for Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen on Saturday. The Rays pitcher, who was perfect through eight innings of his last start, walked Kansas City leadoff hitter MJ Melendez to start the game.
So the 26-year-old right-hander, who's been the best pitcher in baseball in the month of August, gave us no-hitter drama instead.
Rasmussen took a no-no into the sixth inning at Tropicana Field, finally giving up a hit when Melendez singled to center field with one one. It was just a little blip on the radar in the Rays' 5-2 win over the Royals before 19,800 fans.
He's been spectacular through his last three starts, and shows no signs of slowing down. He's given up a total of three hits in the past 17 innings.
"Giving up hits is semi-luck, but we're really good defensively too,'' Rasmussen said. "If you get ahead of hitters and create contact, that gives us a chance to make plays, I really like our chances to finish those plays. I'd say things are going pretty well right now.
Rasmussen (8-4 with a 2.82 ERA) had a lot of life on his fastball, and his breaking ball was especially sharp. he had eight strikeouts and just that one game-opening walk in his 89-pitch outing.
"I thought I created a good amount swing and miss too, especially with two strikes. Professionally, for sure, these outings have gone really well. I wasn't worried about (a no-hitter) through five, and I walked the leadoff hitter in the game, so that sucks. No-hitters, perfect games, those are all luck-based.
The Rays gave him plenty of support early, too, scoring three runs in the second inning off of Kansas City starter Kris Bubic. They got sngles by Francisco Mejia and Yu Chang in the inning, and doubles by Isaac Paredes and Taylor Walls to make it 3-0.
They added another run in the fourth when Yandy Diaz doubled into the gap in right center, scoring Walls and chasing Bubic.
The Royals did make it interesting in the sixth. After the Melendez hit broke up the no-hitter, rookie Bobby Witt Jr. — who had a big home run Friday night — doubled to right field, with Melendez going to third. Catcher Salvador Perez followed with a sacrifice fly to fly, taking away Rasmussen's shutout bid.
He was replaced by lefty Brooks Raley, and he gave up a broken-bat bloop hit to first baseman Vinnie Pasquantio that scored the second run, which was charged to Rasmussen.
From there, though, the Rays bullpen was terrific. Raley got the final out in the sixth, and allowed just a single in the seventh. Jason Adam pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning and Pete Fairbanks did the same in the ninth for his third save of the season, all since July 27
Rasmussen's hot streak has been aided by some timely rest, too, and it's showing up in his performances. He pitched only three innings by design in a start in Detroit, and faced just nine batters. He got eight straight outs before an error, but that runner got picked off.
Then he had last Sunday's near-perfect game thanks to an extra two days off because of the quirky schedule. That helped him get refreshed. He had an extra day off before this start, too.
"They've done a really good job of managing me. They could see I needed a little bit of a breather, so we had that abbreviated outing in Detroit,'' Rasmussen said. "And from there, we hit a couple of off days, which was huge. Just a chance to catch my breath a little bit was huge. Not just physically, but mentally too, to have a day where you don't have to worry about the game of baseball and not feel stressed about it, it's always really nice, as much mentally as physically,
"We're playing really well right now, and it's something that I get to benefit from.''
The Rays are 64-55 now and are eight games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East race. The Yankees lost again on Saturday to continue their swoon. The Rays are still holding on to the sixth and final wild-card spot as well.
Tampa Bay and Kansas City are tied 3-3 in the season series now. The final game of the year is on Sunday, with Ryan Yarbrough (1-7) starting for the Rays against veteran Zach Grienke (4-8).
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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.