Rays Offense Decides To Show Up In Saturday Matinee Game

BY LILY BELCHER

A Saturday afternoon 6-4 win over the Cleveland Guardians showed how temperamental this year's Rays offense really is. After losing the first game of the series, scoring just one run off Guardians pitchers, a shaken up lineup against Saturday's starter Zach Plesac proved to be the spark needed for a victory.

Kevin Cash led with Ji-Man Choi, followed by fellow left-hander Luke Raley, who continued his hot streak with a walk and base hit in his three plate appearances. As expected, Cash batted mostly left handers, as Plesac typically does worse against them, and it certainly worked.

After Raley's first inning walk, Brandon Lowe sent a two run homerun deep into right centerfield to give the Rays an early lead. A second-inning RBI double gave the Rays a three run lead and another two run homer by Yandy Diaz in the fifth brought the Rays to five runs.

Former Cleveland pitcher Corey Kluber started for the Rays and dominated through his first five innings, giving up just five hits and one run, while striking out nine of the 20 batters he faced. After 72 pitches through five, Kluber put two Guardians on for Andres Gimenez, who hit a three run home-run to bring the score to 5-4 going into the final three innings.

Now, with a narrow lead, the Rays handed the ball to Jason Adam, who pitched three quick outs in the seventh. Colin Poche faced four batters, letting Gimenez take second with a double before stranding him.

Brett Phillips tacked on the Rays' sixth and final run of the game with a rare basehit to score Josh Lowe from third, before Pete Fairbanks took the ball to close out the ninth. While Cleveland batters threatened, Fairbanks struck out Jose Ramirez (who doubled twice Saturday) with two on for the final out.

The Rays win was certainly less than spectacular, but much needed as Cleveland is just 2.5 games behind Tampa Bay in the Wild Card race. The Rays are now 17-5 against the Ohio team since 2018 and 41-15 when scoring first this season. They also scored all six of their runs with two outs.

For a team that is obviously struggling to keep their confidence, making lazy attempts in the field and failing to put balls into play, the shaken up lineup could be the next tool for Cash to encourage his offense. The Rays played in front of over 22,000 at Tropicana Field (many of whom sported the Devil Rays basketball jersey giveaway), which may have contributed as well.

Cash will put All-Star Shane McClanahan in charge of building the Rays a winning streak in the rubber match against the Guardians on Sunday with the first pitch scheduled for 1:40.