Rays lean on the long ball to take series from Guardians, head into break with a .500 record
The Tampa Bay Rays will be feeling pretty good about themselves as they head into the break winning seven of their last eight series, the lone outlier being a series sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers.
Dating back to the middle of June, the Rays took series from the Twins, Pirates, Mariners, Nationals, Royals, Yankees, and Guardians and now enter the All Star break with a 48-48 record. At the time of writing this recap, they sit 5 games out of a playoff spot trailing the Astros, Royals, and Red Sox who hold the final spot. IN the East, they are 10 games back.
The weekend set against Cleveland and first half finale was not different for the Rays as they took two of three, winning Sunday by a score of 2-0. As has been the theme as of late, a Rays starter set the table for the Rays. Today, it was Ryan Pepiot who tossed six scoreless, striking out four in the process. He walked none and only allowed a pair of hits. He earned the win and will enter the break with a 6-5 record and a 3.92 ERA.
Poche, Adam, and Fairbanks combined to throw the final three innings, all scoreless. Fairbanks earned the save and worked around back to back singles to start the inning.
It was the second time this series that Rays pitching held the Guardians offense scoreless.
The Rays bats were relatively quiet as well, only mustering five hits compared to Cleveland’s four. Luckily for the Rays, two of their five hits left the yard.
In the bottom of the third, Jose Siri launched his 12th blast of the year to deep left-center. The solo shot gave the Rays a 1-0 lead. Technically, that would be all they needed, but in the 6th inning, Brandon Lowe provided the Rays pen with insurance with a solo blast of his down the right field line.
The score of 2-0 would hold.
Despite slow starts to the year, Randy Arozarena, who added another hit today, enters the break with an average over the Mendoza line (.202). Similarly, Yandy Diaz will also enter the break far better than he started, slashing .273/.329/.396.
Hopefully this recent stretch of success leaves the Rays feeling good about their second half prospects.
