Blue Jays Get to Rasmussen, Clinch Series With 5-1 Win
TORONTO — Drew Rasmussen has been so good for so long this season for the Tampa Bay Rays that it almost seemed odd to see him trying to work out of trouble inning after inning on Wednesday night.
The Toronto Blue Jays took an aggressive approach against him, and forced him to execute big pitches in high-pressure situations. He wasn't at his best, allowing a run in the first, two in the third inning and another in the fourth. He left after four innings, trailing 4-0 and the Rays lost 5-1, dropping their fifth game in the past six.
"I don't think my two-strike execution was particularly good and, unfortunately, that's just how it goes,'' said Rasmussen, the American League Pitcher of the Month in August who's now 10-5 on the season. "I didn't execute when I needed to and that's a really good lineup and they did what they had to.
"They had a really good approach and they were really aggressive. A lot of the hits I gave up, if my location had been better, I think I limit a lot of that. I didn't do myself any favors. Their ability to put the ball in play helped them a lot today.''
"I didn't execute when I needed to. Unfortunately that's a really good lineup and they (Toronto) did what they had to."@RaysBaseball pitcher Drew Rasmussen talks about the struggles to execute tonight. #MLB | #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/ll22z3kauk
— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) September 15, 2022
In the first inning, Rasmussen gave up a home run to 23-year-old star Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the 100th of his young career. He became the 10th-fastest player to get to the 100-homer mark.
The third inning was where Rasmussen felt like he let things get away. He gave up leadoff singles to the two guys at the bottom of the order, second baseman Santiago Espinal and right fielder Johnny Bradley Jr. — which he hates — and then he walked leadoff hitter George Springer to load the bases.
"The walk is the big one for me. Obviously Springer is a really good player and you don't know what the result is if I put the ball in the strike zone. Pushing the runners up 90 feet really hurt, loading the bases. If I don't want Springer, maybe Guerrero's ground ball is a double play instead and we're out of the inning.''
In the fourth, Toronto catcher Danny Jansen doubled to open the inning and went to third on a ground ball. He scored on a single from Espinal to extend the lead to 4-0.
Josh Fleming, fresh off the injured list, pitched the final four innings, allowing just one run. The Rays' only run came in the seventh inning, on a Harold Ramirez homer.
The Rays have lost three of four games in this series and are now tied at 7-7 with Toronto in the season series. That's a huge deal, because the tie-breaker could decide home field advantage in the playoffs. They play 19 games this season, with one more on Thursday afternoon in Toronto and then four in St. Petersburg next week.
The loss dropped the Rays' record to 79-63. They are now 7 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East race, and they hold the sixth-and-final playoff spot, 1 1/2 games behind Toronto and one behind the Seattle Mariners. They are four games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles for the final playoff spot.
Rasmussen has been around long enough to know that there are ups and down to every season, and he's confident the Rays will get out of this cold spell quickly, too.
"The ups and downs, they come over the course of the season,'' Rasmussen said. "We've played a lot of very good baseball since the All-Star break, and we know what we're capable of. We'll get it turned around.''
The Rays are getting a huge boost on Thursday with the return on ace Shane McClanahan. He hasn't pitched since Aug. 24, but is coming off the injured list on Thursday to pitch the series finale. He missed time with a left shoulder impingement, which began when he was warming up for his Aug. 30 start in Miami but couldn't get loose. He's responded well to treatment, though, and every throwing session has gone well. He's 11-5 with a 2.20 ERA this season.
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.