Rays hope to find consistency in May
After finishing April with a 12-14 record and struggling on the road to start the season, Tampa Bay went into May with high hopes of getting back over .500 and staying there for more than a day or two. With the Citrus Series against the Marlins on deck followed immediately by a series at home against the last place Toronto Blue Jays, the Rays were optimistic it could be done.
Rays take the Citrus Series
Rays Up:
Tim Beckham and Logan Morrison continue to own the Marlins no matter who the home team is. Against Miami, Beckham went 5-for-16, while Morrison went 6-for-13. Both hit two home runs over the series, only Beckham hit his two in the same game.
Strong starts by Jake Odorizzi, Alex Cobb, and Matt Andriese followed by quality relief from the bullpen secured the Rays taking 3-of-4 from the Fish.
The #Rays took three of four from Miami to claim the Citrus Series! #RaysWin
RECAP // https://t.co/Gk17C38tOm pic.twitter.com/1F9GRdACio
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 5, 2017
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Rays Down:
Rough day for Austin Pruitt on Wednesday, giving up five runs and collecting his first blown save and loss of the season after another strong start by Blake Snell.
Attendance for the two home games continued to be low, with a total of 22,403 fans over the Wednesday-Thursday series. Which begs the question, would the series be more profitable if it were played on the weekend? Perhaps splitting the series over two weekends; one at Miami and one in St. Pete?
For the Rays, the series win brought them to .500…again…and set them right in the middle of the division leading up to the weekend against Toronto.
Jays continue to dominate Rays
Coming off a series win and sitting at 15-15, Tampa Bay entered the first weekend in May hoping to redeem themselves from the last Toronto series. No such luck, losing 2-of-3 and dropping back under .500.
Rays Up:
Starters Chris Archer, Odorizzi, and Cobb had their best performances of the season thus far, although Odorizzi was the only one to get a win in the series. Archer recorded 11 strikeouts on Friday before being pulled in the seventh.
Five pitches for @Acobb53 in the seventh.
He’s tossed 76 through seven frames so far. pic.twitter.com/hT4ErotVGo
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 7, 2017
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Evan Longoria found a groove on Friday and Saturday, going 5-for-8 over the two games.
Rays Down:
The bullpen had a rough go in the first game of the series after taking over for Archer, giving up five runs while only striking out two batters.
Kendrys Morales owned Tampa Bay in the first two games, going 5-for-7, including two home runs on Friday that accounted for five RBI.
After the first week in May, the Rays are 16-17. The record does not reflect the improvements made in every aspect of the game over the first 33 games. In May, Tampa Bay is 4-3, but has fallen to the 4th spot in the A.L. East.
Up next:
Starting tonight, Tampa Bays hosts the Kansas City Royals (10-20, 5th in A.L. Central) for a 4-game series before going back on the road to historic Fenway Park to take on division rival Boston over the weekend.
