Rays won their second straight series to open the season behind a strong start by Baz and timely hitting
The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates by a score of 7-0 to secure their second consecutive series win ahead of the series finale tomorrow afternoon.
Shane Baz made his first start of the season for the Rays and was fantastic, tossing six strong innings. Brandon Lowe and Jake Mangum combined for six hits and five RBIs to lead the way offensively. And, the bullpen locked down the game with three scoreless innings to cap off a well-played, entertaining game.
Opposite Baz and getting the start for the Pirates was 23-year-old rookie Thomas Harrington, who was making his debut. Based on the Rays track record facing rookie starters, the Pirates #3 overall prospect likely felt confident in his abilities to toss 7 innings of one-hit baseball. Surprisingly, that was not the case and he only lasted four rocky innings and left with the loss in his first career start at the big league level.
Baz got off to a quick start striking out two in a one-two-three first inning allowing the Rays to jump out to an early lead in the bottom half. Yandy reached on a leadoff single and Brandon Lowe followed with a walk. Junior moved them into scoring position with a deep fly ball to center and set up the cleanup hitter, Jake Mangum, to do the some damage. Mangum, following a four hit game the night prior, remained hot and promptly gave the Rays a 2-0 lead with a double to left. Misner followed later in the inning with a run scoring single to extend the Rays lead to 3-0.
Again, Baz stuck out a pair in the next inning, but the Rays would go quietly in the second.
Mangum reached on an infield single to start the bottom of the third. He then stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Misner collected his second RBI of the night with sacrifice fly and the Rays took a 4-0 lead.
The following inning Brandon Lowe blasted his second homer of the year driving in Yandy Diaz, extending the Rays lead to a commanding 6-0. Of note, later in the frame, Mangum was finally retired after grounding out to the pitcher. Prior to the ground ball, he had reached safely in seven consecutive plate appearances and was 6-6 during that span.
Baz would be done after six strong innings of work. He threw 95 pitches, 65 for strikes. The former Pirates prized prospect struck out 10 and walked none, allowing seven hits and no runs. He left with the win.
The Rays tacked on another run in the eighth on a Brandon Lowe RBI-single driving in DeLuca who had previously tripled. The 7-0 score would hold and the Rays would go on to win their third straight game.
Some notes:
- The Rays finished their first trip through the starting rotation with a K/BB ratio of 36/1.
- Mangum and Lowe combined for 6 hits and 5 RBIs.
- The Rays continued to put the ball in play, striking out only 4 times.
- Mason Montgomery tackled the 9th and struck out the side in dominating fashion, touching 102 mph.
The Rays will look to sweep the Pirates tomorrow afternoon in what should be a fantastic pitching matchup between Ryan Pepiot and Paul Skenes.