The Cincinnati Reds have been the biggest thorn-in-the-side of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Prior to becoming the Rays in 2008, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were 0-6 all-time against the Cincinnati Reds. Since dropping the demonic moniker, the Rays have won three-of-the-seven games against Big Red Machine. Their 3-10 lifetime record is the worst mark against any MLB squad.
3’s are Wild
Trailing by two in the third inning, the Rays struck for a three-spot. Corey Dickerson drove in the team’s first run with an RBI-single to right field. Two batters later he came around to score when Logan Morrison roped a base hit to left.
The Rays weren’t done there.
In the fourth inning, Jesus Sucre belted a home run to left field. His third homer of the season was just the fifth time in the StatCast era that a home run reached a maximum height of 38 feet or less.
The shortest maximum-height home run on record belongs to Chris Young of the Boston Red Sox.
Only five over-the-fence homers since 2015 have had max heights of 38 feet or lower.
This is the lowest (37 feet): https://t.co/0RUQcPkpZJ https://t.co/HlT5M6U8SO
— #Statcast (@statcast) June 21, 2017
Into the White of Night
It’s no secret that the roof at Tropicana Field can play tricks on visiting players.
After all, it plays tricks on gold-glove centerfielders that are used to it.
Cincinnati right fielder Scott Schebler had some trouble with the dome when he couldn’t handle a pop up in foul territory. Then it was a combination of the roof and the Reds bullpen that prevented Jose Peraza from making a play down the line in left field.
Not to be out-done, Dickerson and Peter Bourjos showed that it doesn’t matter how often you play at the Trop – a white ball in a white roof is hard to pick up.
Adam Duvall lofted a fly ball to right-center field that was playable for either Bourjos or Dickerson. Unfortunately for the Rays outfielders, neither one of them made the catch.
It appeared as if they ball lost the ball in the roof. By the time either were able to pick up the location of the ball, they couldn’t communicate on who was to make the play. Dickerson explained what happened on the play after the game.
“I think that [Bourjos] thought he was going to have that ball and he lost it, at the last minute he said ‘I can’t see it’ or something like that.”
Duvall stood on third for two pitches before scoring the Reds’ second run of the night courtesy of a Jose Peraza single.
Cobb Frustrated in Victory
It wasn’t always pretty but Alex Cobb (6-5; 4.05) was able to pick up his sixth victory of the season. The win sets a career-high for Cobb prior to the All-Star break. His 113 total pitches were three short of his last start in Detroit, and four shy of his career-high 117.
Perhaps the biggest reason for his recent success (at least six innings pitched with fewer than three runs allowed in three straight starts), he is using his changeup more often. Cobb threw 25 changeups on Tuesday night, that is the highest number of changeups he has thrown all season. Over his last four starts, Cobb has thrown an average of 20 changeups per outing.
At 22%, the frequency of changeups thrown would put him among the Top-7 pitchers in MLB. Throughout his career Cobb has thrown his changeup at a 32% clip. However, at his own admission, he has had to slowly work at throwing more changeups since returning to full health.
“Guys that have been around me since the Tommy John rehab comeback know that the changeup’s probably the last pitch to come for me.”
Cobb went on to say that he has seen some good things from his changeup. He also recognizes that it used to be his best offering.
“I just have to keep throwing it and hopefully find some situations throughout the game where I can work on it and try and get that feel to where I can go to it like I used to and it was my best pitch.”
Up Next for Rays
The Rays look to earn a series victory on Wednesday afternoon. Erasmo Ramirez (3-2; 5.17) gets the ball for Tampa Bay.The Reds are a season-high 10 games under .500 and it will be on Tim Adleman (4-3; 4.22) to prevent the club from reaching a new season-low.
