My Two Cents: Without Question, Rays' Shane McClanahan Best Pitcher in Baseball Right Now
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays had won the first two games of their series with the St. Louis Cardinals, and they looked good doing it. But there's that old adage in baseball when talking about momentum, that you're really only as good as your next day's starting pitcher.
Well, the Rays are REALLY GOOD when Shane McClanahan is on the mound. Every single start.
McClanahan set more career highs on Thursday, twirling a gem in the Rays' 2-1 victory over the Cardinals that seemed to be over in the blink of eye. The game lasted just 1 hour, 54 minutes and the win pushed the Rays to 34-23 on the season, the first time all year that they've been 11 games over .500.
McClanahan, the 25-year-old left-hander from Cape Coral, Fla., who played his college ball at the University of South Florida in Tampa, pitched eight innings for the first time in his big-league career. He threw 94 pitches and allowed just two hits and one unearned run, that coming on an error of his own — basically his only mistake all day.
It was just another absolutely tremendous day. McClanahan never likes to engage in this discussion about how good he is, but I'll say it. He's the best pitcher in baseball right now.
“I think he’s putting himself in a category here for two months of the season — a pretty special, elite category,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “When you have that stuff and you have that command, that’s why he’s there.”
McClanahan is 7-2 on the season now, and in his last seven starts, he's 6-0 with a 1.19 earned run average. He had nine strikeouts Thursday and now has 98 for the year, which leads the majors. His seven wins are tied for the best in the game, and his 1.87 season ERA is third-best in the American League.
Fans of other teams might prefer their own guy in this conversation, be it Justin Verlander (Houston), Martin Perez (Texas) or Nestor Cortes (New York), but this much is clear. The Rays wouldn't trade McClanahan for any of them, and McClanahan himself is confident that he'd outduel all of them in an October showdown.
Because to him, that's all that matters, winning games and getting to October. So far, so good.
When McClanahan pitches, the Rays win, seven times in a row now. They've only lost three of his starts all season — all in April — and they only scored four runs total in those three losses when he was on the mound. McClanahan won Thursday despite the Rays scoring only on Ji-Man Choi's. two-run homer in the fourth inning.
McClanahan wins because he has complete command of all four pitches right now, and hitters have no idea what to expect. He has a high-90s fastball that's hard to catch up to, two different breaking balls that look exactly the same coming out of his hand and a changeup that's dramatically better than a year ago.
Practically unhittable isn't far off.
“We did hit a few balls hard, but it wasn’t like we were smoking him all over the place,'' Cardinals star Paul Goldschmidt said. "You’ve got to give (McClanahan) a lot of credit. He’s been doing it the whole year. It wasn’t like today was just a fluke. He’s been one of the best pitchers in the league.”
The Cardinals, who got swept for the first time all year, were duly impressed with the young lefty.
“Shane has something for you,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol. “The eighth inning, still sitting at 98 (mph). That's impressive.''
The Rays pondered sending McClanahan back out for the ninth at 94 pitches, but he had done enough. Jason Adam pitched the ninth instead, picking up the save and lowering his own ERA to 0.72. He's only allowed two runs all year over 25 innings, and none since May 3.
“I would’ve liked it, but I understand. Jason has been dynamite for us all year,” McClanahan said. “I trust Cash. I trust [pitching coach Kyle] Snyder. They obviously are going to do the best thing for this team and myself going forward, so I think he made the right call.''
Tampa Bay is 11 games over .500 now, a season-high. Their 34 wins are third-best in the AL, behind only the New York Yankees (41) and Houston Astros (36). Sweeping the Cardinals was a big deal, because they were nine games over .500 themselves when they arrived in St. Pete. They're a good team, and the Rays took them down three straight.
The Rays now head out on a big nine-game, 10-day road trip, starting on Friday night at Minnesota. The Twins are 33-26 and lead the AL Central by three games. They beat the Rays twice in St. Pete during a three-game series from April 30 to May 2, winning 9-1 and 9-3 the final two days. The Rays are excited to see the season debut of 22-year-old pitcher Shane Baz, who's healthy now after an elbow injury and is ready to start his season.
Then comes the Rays' first trip to Yankee Stadium this year, for three games against the Yankees. New York is 41-17, a whopping .719 wining percentage, and the two teams split a four-game series a few weeks ago at Tropicana Field. They'll end the series in Baltimore for three more games with the Orioles.
Sweeping a very good Cardinals team was a big deal. The Rays are now 7-1 in interleague games this year.
"I think that just shows what we're capable of,'' McClanahan said "We're not even 100 percent healthy, but this team is resilient and we're heading in the right direction.''
With their ace leading the way.
Watch Shane McClanahan's postgame interview
MLB strikeout leader Shane McClanahan chats with @TriciaWhitaker about the longest outing of his career and again praises the defense behind him all game. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/4hnGmduwPg
— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) June 9, 2022
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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.