The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 16-1 last night at Steinbrenner Field. In the game, every Rays hitter reached base safely at least once, and Shane Baz struck out 11. They truly showed what the season can look like going forward. Especially after getting swept by the Rangers and losing two out of three to the Angels, these last few games have been a much-needed boost.
The Rays faced groundball-heavy pitcher Tanner Houck, and last night’s outcome is the risk you run as a pitch-to-contact pitcher in today’s MLB. Over the previous two years, Houck has sported a Hard Hit Percentage about 8 points above league average, and the Rays took advantage of that last night. Kameron Misner, one of the season’s standouts so far, notched his first career multi-home run game and maintained his above .400 batting average.
Every Tampa Bay hitter recorded at least one run and one RBI, a feat only accomplished one other time in franchise history and something increasingly rare in the modern MLB.
Tampa Bay has climbed back into third in the AL East standings, only one game behind the New York Yankees. All things considered, especially after that Rangers series, this is a great position for the Rays. Baz has pitched amazingly this season, currently holding a sub-two ERA and recording 27 strikeouts over 3 games. Not to mention the players that haven’t yet made an appearance this year.
Shane McClanahan began the season on the 15-Day IL List after being set to receive the Opening Day start. There is still no estimated return date out of the Tampa Bay camp, but at worst, it should be no later than a month. The Rays are doing just fine pitching-wise without him, the bigger problem seems to lie at shortstop.
Ha-Seong Kim was the signature signing for the Rays this offseason, and for a team that usually doesn’t splash in free agency. This was a clear sign that they wanted to upgrade the shortstop position. Despite Taylor Walls’ elite defensive numbers, he provides next to nothing in the batting order, and this Rays team needs all the help it can get in that department.
In such a pitching-focused team, it almost seems as if every run the Rays score is worth two. That is how good the pitching is – and how bad the hitting is. 16 runs in one game might be a little bit of an overkill, but if the Rays’ bats can keep up this kind of production it is a promising sign for the season ahead. After the Rays finish this series with the Red Sox, they have an early season test against the division-leading Yankees.
If the Rays can just hold steady until they get McClanahan back to anchor the rotation and Kim in the lineup at shortstop to provide a much-needed boost, they will be just fine. Just like they always are – just fine.
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