Where does Drew Rasmussen’s game rank among Rays’ best?

ST. PETERSBURG — Drew Rasmussen will make do with the memories of what might have been.

A week ago, the Rays right-hander flirted with perfection and baseball history, retiring the first 24 Orioles before allowing a double to Jorge Mateo on the first pitch of the ninth inning.

But Rasmussen is a pragmatic guy, and it’s a bottom-line business, so there was no reason for sentimentality or need for souvenirs, such as a game ball or the lineup card.

“The way I see it, at the end it wasn’t a complete game, wasn’t a shutout, wasn’t a perfect game,” Rasmussen said. “It was awesome to do, but, no, I didn’t keep anything.”

But there is this: A place in pitching-rich Rays history as one of the best single-game performances.

Rasmussen worked into the ninth inning, the first time as a pro he’d gone past the seventh. He was remarkably efficient (87 pitches), striking out seven, going to just two three-ball counts, and allowing his only run on a wild pitch and just one other baserunner (his final batter, ex-Ray Brett Phillips, on a strikeout/wild pitch).

“When you look at the out efficiency, plus the ability to achieve the strikeout, and the fact that he just really hasn’t seen (the seventh, eighth and ninth innings), it’s different,” said Kyle Snyder, the Rays’ pitching coach since 2018 and part of the organization since 2012, “but it’s certainly got to be in the conversation.”

Here are some of the others:

The no-no

Matt Garza’s no-hitter against the Tigers on July 26, 2010 is the best single-game accomplishment by any Rays pitcher, as it is the only no-no they have thrown. (Six, including three of the 23 perfect games in history, have been thrown against them.) Garza walked Brennan Boesch with one out in the second, then got Ryan Raburn to hit into a double play. He didn’t allow another baserunner, striking out six while needing 120 pitches to finish it. … Two Rays took no-hitters two outs into the eighth: Tony Saunders (April 22, 1999 vs. Orioles) and Dewon Brazelton (June 25, 2004 vs. Marlins).

The 1s

Besides Rasmussen, there have been 12 other games where a Rays starter went at least seven innings and allowed only one hit. Most impressive from that dirty dozen? Chris Archer’s one-hit, complete game shutout Aug, 20, 2015 at Houston. He walked one and threw just 98 pitches to 28 batters. He also got a franchise-best 95 “Game Score” from baseball-reference.com, which uses a formula that rewards innings and strikeouts and subtracts for hits, walks and runs allowed.

Others:

May 23, 1999: Ryan Rupe, nine shutout innings vs. Angels, no walks, eight strikeouts, 86 pitches, in a 10-inning loss.

May 2, 2003: Joe Kennedy, complete game shutout at Tigers, one walk, six strikeouts, 106 pitches.

May 9, 2008: James Shields, complete game shutout vs. Angels, no walks, one hit batter, eight strikeouts, 92 pitches.

June 26, 2008: Garza, complete game at Marlins, one run, one hit (Hanley Ramirez homer leading off seventh), one walk, 10 strikeouts, 108 pitches.

The fan clubs

Strikeouts often are considered a measure of how dominating a pitcher’s stuff is. Twice, Rays pitchers have struck out 15.

Oct. 2, 2012: Shields vs. Orioles, over nine innings, allowing only two hits and no walks. But there was a catch — he lost, as one of the hits was a Chris Davis homer.

June 2, 2015: Archer at Angels, over eight innings, allowing six hits and one run.

Also memorable: David Price, 14 Ks over seven innings at Blue Jays, Aug. 28, 2011; Tyler Glasnow, 14 Ks over 7-2/3 innings, vs. Rangers, April 12, 2021; Shields, 13 Ks in complete game, three-hit, one-walk shutout at Marlins, May 22, 2011; Blake Snell, 12 Ks (including the first seven batters) over six innings, at his hometown Mariners, June 3, 2018.

The team efforts

Sometimes it takes more than one pitcher to make a run at history:

• The closest the Rays had come to a perfect game before Rasmussen’s outing was a tag-team effort on July 14, 2019, at the Orioles between opener Ryne Stanek (two innings) and Ryan Yarbrough (six). Like Rasmussen, Yarbrough allowed the first baserunner with a hit on the first pitch of the ninth (a single by Hanser Alberto).

• The Rays actually threw a second no-hitter, with five pitchers combining to blank the Indians on July 7, 2021. But Major League Baseball doesn’t recognize it since it was a seven-inning game, as dictated by MLB for doubleheaders in 2021.

• Six Rays combined to no-hit the Red Sox for nine innings on April 23, but the game continued with a scoreless tie. The Rays lost the no-hitter and the shutout in the 10th before winning the game on Kevin Kiermaier’s walkoff homer.

Rays rumblings

Add TV play-by-play Dewayne Staats to those whose iPhone responded to the prompt when he said, “Siri,” the last name of the new Rays outfielder. Except Staats was on the air at the time Monday, and viewers heard the virtual assistant respond and ask for clarification. Staats had just gotten a new phone and, joking about his technological prowess, said he has since adjusted the settings so it should no longer be an issue. … Glasnow had time during the brief trip to New York to make one of his favorite stops, playing chess with the semi-pros at Washington Square Park: “I was so close to winning,” he said. … Bad couple of weeks for fan favorite Phillips, who has been dropped by the Rays and Orioles. ... Shane McClanahan is the now the third choice for the AL Cy Young, per espn.com and Caesar’s Sports Book, behind the Astros’ Justin Verlander and White Sox’s Dylan Cease. ... The new Rays top five prospect list by mlb.com: Taj Bradley, Curtis Mead, Carson Williams, Jonathan Aranda, Xavier Edwards. ... The Rays dropped from second to 12th in Baseball America’s updated in-season farm system talent rankings. ... Yoshi Tsutsugo, released by the Dodgers and Pirates after being traded by the Rays in May 2021, signed a minor-league deal with the Blue Jays and is playing at Triple-A Buffalo... Wander Franco was runner-up to Seattle outfielder Julio Rodriguez as the top 21-year-old on mlb.com’s list of the best player at each age. McClanahan was mentioned among the 25-year-olds, with Houston’s Yordan Alvarez the pick.

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