Josh Lowe leads the way as Rays get back on the hit parade vs. Yankees
NEW YORK — What, them worry?
After a few quiet nights offensively in losing two of three to the Orioles, the Rays insisted they would soon get back to putting up the big numbers that have made their start to the season a smashing success.
Thursday, they found the key hits they had been looking for and then some in beating the Yankees 8-2.
“It’s like Harold (Ramirez) was saying (Wednesday), it’s just part of the game,” said Josh Lowe, who led the resurgence. “It happens. We ran into a hot Baltimore pitching staff; they were doing their job.
“But with the guys we have in this clubhouse, we’re able to bounce back every single day and go out there and put up nights like (Thursday).”
Yandy Diaz had the first big hit, a two-out double in the fifth that scored Lowe to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. Lowe had a couple, a three-run double in the sixth that made it 4-0 and a two-run homer in the eighth, for a career-high five RBIs. Taylor Walls and Isaac Paredes also drove in runs as the Rays built an 8-0 lead.
“I was happy Yandy came up with a big hit,” manager Kevin Cash said. “He’s smoked balls all over the ballpark with nothing to show for it and gets the one across. And I think that might have relaxed us a little bit after a couple quiet nights offensively.”
There was more to the story as the Rays improved to 30-9, the 16th team in the modern era (since 1901) to win that many of their first 39, and the first to do so in 39 years — since the 1984 Tigers.
“That’s saying something,” Cash said. “That’s really, really impressive.”
On the down side, shortstop Wander Franco left after a fifth inning at-bat due to a spasm and tightness on the right side of his neck, but both he and Cash said there was a chance Franco could return to action Friday.
On the plus side, Drew Rasmussen delivered a dominant seven-inning start.
He allowed only two hits, striking out seven and walking none, throwing 57 of his 76 pitches for strikes. He got 12 swings-and-misses and threw first-pitch strikes to the first 10 hitters and 18 of 23 overall.
He did that while facing the Yankees for a second straight start, a lineup that added dangerous Aaron Judge from the injured list.
“Really impressive, and then you add on the factor that he just pitched against them,” Cash said. “That’s a good hitting lineup over there. And it seemed like he had as good of stuff as he had all season. Super efficient. Just willing to throw the ball over the plate consistently. Both breaking balls working. Did a tremendous job.”
Rasmussen said he changed his approach to the hitters from Saturday, when he blanked the Yankees over 5-2/3 innings, and had the same successful result.
“We went back and looked over how we got guys out the first time and the second time in the last outing. We just wanted to give them different looks, and then kind of keep them on their heels a little bit,” Rasmussen said, giving credit to catcher Francisco Mejia. “We stayed aggressive, and we attacked the strike zone. It’s one of those things where, if you’ll consistently do that, you’ll typically be happy with the results.”
Especially against the Yankees, against whom he has now thrown 21 scoreless innings over four career outings.
“I wouldn’t have guessed it was that many,” Rasmussen said. “That’s a really good lineup over there.”
The Rays feel they have a really good lineup as well, and knew that after they went 1-for-20 with runners in scoring position, left 22 men on base and totaled just six runs over the three games in Baltimore there were some doubters — on the outside, anyway.
“Our offense has been unbelievable,” Rasmussen said. “There’s not a whole lot of worry. Those guys are loose. They’re fun. None of them seem to show a whole lot of concern after a couple of days of not scoring as much as what we have.
“So, the confidence we have in those guys, it’s unbelievable. And just the ability to rely on them and lean on them to score runs for us every single day has been really nice.”
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