Former Razorback Ryne Stanek a part of Rays’ odd pitching rotation.
The Tampa Bay Rays have turned heads in Major League Baseball over the past couple of weeks by using relievers to start games rather than end them.
One of those relievers is former University of Arkansas, Fayetteville pitcher Ryne Stanek, who was called up to Tampa Bay from the Class AAA Durham Bulls on May
19. His most recent start was Thursday against the Oakland Athletics. But unlike his previous two career appearances against the A’s, this one didn’t go so well. Stanek took the loss after allowing 2 earned runs on 1 hit with 1 walk over 1 innings as Tampa Bay lost 7-3 at Oakland.
Including the Rays’ game at Seattle on Friday night, the Rays have used relievers to start seven games — Stanek twice and Sergio Romo five times — and are 3-4. In Stanek’s only other start for the Rays, he retired the five batters he faced in a 5-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on May 26. His only victory for the Rays this season came Monday, when he threw 1 innings of shutout relief in a 1-0, 13-inning victory over Oakland.
With only three established starters in their rotation, Rays Manager Kevin Cash told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times the team plans to keep using the “designated openers.”
“I think it alters a lineup’s approach a little bit, throws a wrinkle in it,” Cash said. “Is it going to continue to work? Are we going to have the same thoughts that we have right now as we do in maybe August or September? I don’t know.”
Despite taking the loss Thursday, Stanek said he likes the plan to use relievers at the beginning of games.
“I think the logic is still good behind [the plan],” Stanek told the Times. “It’s just one of those days where a little execution caught me and caught us. It still works, but the same size is still small. It still makes sense for me.”