Cy Young Hopefuls Battle
On Saturday, Rays pitcher Chris Archer took the mound for the second time this season. He was opposed by the American League ERA leader last season, Aaron Sanchez. Surely a pitchers duel was to be expected.
The two traded zeroes early on, Archer faced the minimum 12 batters through four innings while Sanchez allowed just two hits through four.
Making his fourth start of the season, Mallex Smith beat out an infield single for the first hit of the night. He would go on to reach base in all five plate appearances. Archer later joked about the “Mallex Effect”
The Rays got on the board in the fourth inning when Corey Dickerson singled home Derek Norris after he had reached on a walk.
Archer took the 1-0 lead into the seventh where he proceeded to walk lead-off batter Josh Donaldson. After a Jose Bautista walk and a Kendrys Morales double play moved Donaldson over to third, Troy Tulowitzki stepped in. Looking to build off of his success last night, Tulo took the first pitch to left field scoring Donaldson. The teams were tied 1-1 after seven innings.
The Jays took the lead in the top-of-the-eighth after Archer allowed another lead-off walk. This time it was Donaldson who would eventually plate Russell Martin with the go-ahead run. Continuing his early-season success, Steven Souza came up big for the Rays in the bottom-half.
After a one-out single by Evan Longoria, Brad Miller walked, setting the table for Souza. Entering the game the Rays right fielder was batting .389 and had hits in each of the last four games – make that five.
Souza’s RBI tied the game at two and that is how the game stood after nine innings.
The Departed
Archer finished the game going 7.2IP – 5H – 2ER – 3BB – 8K, while Sanchez went 7IP – 4H – 1ER – 3BB – 6K. Both Archer and Sanchez recognize the other and know what each other is capable of…
“It’s a fun atmosphere when you have two competitive guys out there. Trying to keep zeroes off the board” Sanchez commented.
On two separate occasions the Rays flashed some leather on balls that were drifting out of play and appeared destine to reach the stands. Souza and Logan Morrison had other ideas…
LoMo tracking one down! pic.twitter.com/C8e06e0IhP
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 8, 2017
#Souzn it up! pic.twitter.com/i1NpnjrIia
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 8, 2017
Walks on the Wild Side
Making his MLB-debut, Blue Jays reliever Casey Lawrence gave up a lead-off double to Smith in the bottom-of-the-eleventh. Tim Beckham sacrificed Smith to second and then things got weird.
Back-to-back intentional walks – on zero pitches – loaded the bases for Longoria. The crowd on its feet, a rookie making his debut, a clutch scenario, it seemed like it was Longo-time…and then it wasn’t. The slugger would strike out for the second out of the inning.
Enter Miller – with zero walk-offs to his credit. It turns out it wasn’t Longo-time…it was Miller-time!
Lawrence walked Miller and Smith ran home with the winning run.
Walk the walk ➡️ get the ice. ❄️#RaysUp pic.twitter.com/ey3JeRgDIQ
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 9, 2017
Miller was on the receiving end of the Gatorade shower but Mallex Smith was the name everyone was talking about after the game. The Rays skipper was impressed…
“You can tell since he’s been here that it’s been much more the aggressive style of play. We are going to ride with it as he’s feeling it.”
Looking Ahead
The Rays can do no worse than a series split with the Blue Jays. Game four of the series is tomorrow afternoon at 1:10p. Jake Odorizzi looks to pick up his first win of the season as he squares off against Marco Estrada.
