“Adventurous” is putting it nicely, but Tampa Bay Rays closer Alex Colome didn’t let Tuesday afternoon’s sure win in Chicago turn into a deflating defeating.
So no need to throw haymakers after a win. Not at this point and not yet.
But the Rays aren’t getting reliability and consistency from one area they didn’t think they’d have to worry about in 2018.
Colome picked up his second save of the season yesterday, closing out the White Sox after two consecutive disasters in Boston. The Rays needed him again today, despite entering the bottom of the ninth with a 6-1 lead.
Ryan Weber, a Clearwater Central Catholic graduate, had a rough Rays debut and handed the ball over to Colome with one out, the lead trimmed to 6-2 and runners at first and second. After getting Avasail Garcia to ground out to the mound, Jose Abreu slammed a 1-2 cutter over the center-field wall.
A rough situation to get tossed into, yes. But Colome signed a one-year, $5.3 million contract to stay in Tampa Bay this year for moments like that. No sympathy points here.
Colome managed to avoid the meltdown, though. He walked Matt Davidson and then got ripped into right field by pinch hitter Omar Narvaez, but that line drive ended up in the glove of Mallex Smith. Not pretty, but game over.
At the end of the year, Tuesday’s “save” will look like every other save Colome records. And the Rays are confident better days are coming.
“I think it’s fair to say Alex is not as right as maybe we’ve seen him in the past, but he got the job done,” Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters after the 6-5 win. “And coming off eight losses in a row, it really doesn’t matter. Just find a way to win.”
Throughout the course of a 162-game season, most players at every position are going to navigate rough stretches. When closers experience these moments, it’s just much more noticeable. Position players can go 1-for-20 in mid-June without getting much or any blowback from fans and the media. A closer loses two leads in a row and people start talking about replacements.
The Rays are handling Colome how they did last year when the 29-year-old battled through a mid-summer funk. Colome’s ERA ballooned from 1.88 to 4.10 from June 10 to July 4 – an eight-appearance span where he surrendered 11 runs – all earned – on 15 hits and seven walks. The struggles probably cost Colome a second-straight All-Star Game selection but the team stuck with him and he recovered nicely, finishing the season with a 3.24 ERA and 47 saves – six more than any other closer in Major League Baseball.
To reporters on Tuesday, Cash offered some opinions on why his ninth-inning man isn’t enjoying success.
“He’s falling behind – location and command a little inconsistent,” Cash said. “I don’t think it’s a mechanical thing. That’s probably a better question for [pitching coach Kyle Snyder] to answer. He’s just off for whatever reason. If we had the answer we would probably talk to him, communicate with him. But right now, there’s not much that he’s showing other than just falling behind.”
