The Citrus Series has come to a sweet end for the Tampa Bay Rays.
On Thursday night, the Rays welcomed Colby Rasmus to the lineup for the first time this season. However, it was his teammate, Tim Beckham that stole the show early on. The Rays picked up the 5-1 victory and took three-of-four in the Citrus Series with Miami.
The force is Strong in that #1
After a Brad Miller leadoff walk, Marlins starting pitcher Dan Straily was able to retire Logan Morrison and Rasmus before Beckham stepped into the batters box.
Despite falling behind in the count, Beckham launched an 0-2 offering from Straily into the left-center field seats for his fifth home run of the season. The 4-seam fastball left Straily’s hand at 92 mph but left Beckham’s bat at 104 mph – and landed 410 ft later.
However, Beckham wasn’t done yet.
Leading by two with one out in the fourth inning, the Rays shortstop decided it was a good time for his second career multi-homer game. His second home run of the night travelled even further (414 ft) than his earlier blast. After the game he was asked about the 800 feet worth of home runs that he had hit.
“Might be a first for me.” Beckham chuckled.
BECKH????M
His second blast of the night! pic.twitter.com/KATmDXN238
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 5, 2017
Andriese shows off the strike-force
Entering the game, Matt Andriese had yet to fan more than five batters in a game this season. In fact, in his previous two starts combined he tallied eight strikeouts. That is the same number he had on Thursday night against Miami. The career-high strikeout total was achieved on two other occasions – both in August of 2016. It was his fourth quality start of the season, and also the third scoreless outing of his career.
After retiring the side in order to start the game, Andriese surrendered five hits to the next 12 batters he faced. It was key defensive positioning, and key defensive plays that allowed him to shut down the Marlins for seven full innings.
The most notable defensive gem was turned in by Daniel Robertson in the third inning.
After Adeiny Hechavarria and Dee Gordon led off the inning with singles, Martin Prado roped a one-hop laser down the line at third. Instinctually, Robertson fielded the ball near third base, stepped on the bag, and fired to second for what looked like the middle of a 5-4-3 triple play. However, Prado got down the line just in time to beat the throw from Miller.
Notable:
Marlins outfielder Marcell Ozuna extended his hitting streak against the Rays to 21 games. That is the longest active streak by any player against any team.
Quotable:
Kevin Cash was very pleased with his pitchers performance…
Up Next:
Friday night, Chris Archer (2-1; 3.43) gets the call opposite Blue Jays starter, Francisco Liriano (2-2; 3.97).
The Rays will look to bounce back after losing two-of-three in Toronto last week.
