Catching Some Rays: Opening Weekend Review

A new season is upon us and there is a lot to be excited about in St. Petersburg. After making the postseason for the fourth season in a row, Kevin Cash leads a Rays team that features one of the strongest pitching staffs in the league and a lineup that is flowing with young talent. At the front of it all is the charismatic Randy Arozarena, fresh off of an amazing World Baseball Classic, phenom Wander Franco, and the team's ace, Shane McClanahan. While they don't feature some of the household names the league might be familiar with, the Rays never fail to have a few guys come out of nowhere to shock the system. They have an uphill climb in the AL East with the Yankees bringing back Aaron Judge, the Blue Jays making some steady improvement, and the Orioles set to be loaded with top prospects. It won't be easy to make it back to the postseason for a fifth straight season. I want to do a week-by-week breakdown of the Rays' season by talking about each week as a whole instead of doing something after every game because that would be hard to do. 

Thursday 3/30- Opening Day

Rays 4, Tigers 0

WP- Shane McClanahan (1-0), LP- Eduardo Rodriguez (0-1)

Baseball returned to The Trop as the Rays and Tigers started their seasons with a mid-afternoon start. Shane McClanahan and Eduardo Rodriguez took that ball for their respective teams. We'd get two and a half innings of scoreless baseball before Jose Siri drove a ball into the left-field bleachers in the bottom of the third after Rodriguez missed his spot, leaving a cutter over the plate. McClanahan continued to deal, pitching six shutout innings, allowing four hits, a walk, and striking out six. Rodriguez got into some trouble in the bottom of the six and was chased with two runners on and two outs. Randy Arozarena and Luke Raley would hit back-to-back RBI 1Bs to push the lead to 3-0 after six. The play of the game would come in the top of the seventh as Manuel Margot made a diving catch with two on and two out to preserve the shutout. Wander Franco knocked one into the stands to lead off the bottom of the eighth before Pete Fairbanks came on in the ninth and shut the door. This is the Rays' third-straight win on Opening Day. 

Player of the Game- Shane McClanahan (TB) (6 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts)

Saturday 4/1

Rays 12, Tigers 2

WP- Zach Eflin (1-0), LP- Spencer Turnbull (0-1)

For the first time, Zach Eflin took the mound at Tropicana Field in a Rays uniform after signing the largest free agent contract in franchise history. The story of the game was the offense. After mustering just one run in the first inning despite loading the bases with one out, the Rays exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the third behind two-run doubles from Jose Siri and Josh Lowe, an RBI single from Francisco Mejia, an RBI double from Yandy Diaz, and another RBI single from Wander Franco to take an 8-0 lead through three. This chased Spencer Turnbull from the game after recording eight outs in his first start in almost two years. Detroit would get one back in the fourth before Diaz demolished a two-run homer to make it 10-1. Franco added two more runs in the seventh on a double to make it 12-2, where it would finish. Eflin looked good in his first start, going five innings and allowing just one run on three hits to earn the victory and guarantee a series win to open the season. The Rays are the only team in the AL East to start 2-0. 

Player of the Game- Yandy Diaz (TB) (3-for-4, 3 runs, 1 walk, RBI double, 2-run home run (1))

Sunday 4/2

Rays 5, Tigers 1

WP- Jeffrey Springs (1-0), LP- Joey Wentz (0-1)

For most of the afternoon, it looked like we were witnessing a pitcher's duel between Jeffrey Springs and Joey Wentz. Both pitchers were nearly flawless through three innings but Wentz would make the first mistake in the fourth. It's not that he made a bad pitch as Randy Arozerena went down to get a pitch. He certainly didn't miss it though as he crushed a solo home run to break the scoreless tie. The Rays' bats came alive again in the sixth inning. Isaac Parades blistered a ball back up the middle to drive in another run, chasing Wentz from the game after 5.1 innings. Jose Siri would uncork another single, driving in two runs to push the lead to 4-0. Springs continued to deal. He would pitch six nearly perfect innings, allowing just one walk in six innings and striking out a career-high 12 batters. He also threw a first-pitch strike to 18 of the 19 batters he faced. The no-hitter would last much longer as Colin Poche allowed a single in the seventh. The Rays would add a fifth run and Jake Rogers would hit Detroit's first home run of the season in the top of the ninth as the Rays eased into a three-game sweep. 

Player of the Game- Jeffrey Springs (TB) (6.0 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 12 strikeouts)

Series Overview

• Rays sweep the Tigers, 3-0
• One of three teams to sweep their Opening Weekend series (Minnesota, Texas)
• Outscored the Tigers 21-3
• 21 runs, 5th in the league
• 3 runs allowed, tied for the fewest
• +18 run differential, tied for the best in the league (Texas)
• 9 doubles, tied for fourth-most this weekend
• Wander Franco & Josh Lowe- 3 doubles each, tied for the most in the league (4 others)
• Jeffrey Springs- 12 strikeouts on Sunday, tied for the most in the league this weekend (Logan Webb, SF)
• Series MVP- Wander Franco- 7-for-11, 3 doubles, 1 home run, 2 walks, 4 RBIs, 1 stolen base) 

The Week Ahead

The Rays will travel to the US capital for a three-game interleague series with the Washington Nationals. Drew Rasmussen and Josh Fleming will round out the Rays' rotation with starts on Monday and Tuesday before Shane McClanahan gets the ball back on Wednesday with an extra day of rest. They'll be off on Thursday as they travel back home for a three-game weekend series with the Oakland Athletics at Tropicana Field.