Seven Rays pitchers stymie Jays
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida — Ryne Stanek is set for a new role in the Tampa Bay rotation — sort of.
The reliever will likely now start two out of every five games in the Rays’ ongoing bullpen-day experiment.
Wilson Ramos homered, six Tampa Bay relievers combined for a five-hitter and the Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 on Tuesday night.
With right-handers Chris Archer and Jake Faria on the disabled list, Tampa Bay is using relievers to start three times through the rotation.
Stanek opened the game, striking out three in two perfect innings, and was followed by Austin Pruitt (2 23 ⁄ innings), Jonny Venters (one-third of an inning), Chaz Roe (1 13 ⁄ innings), Jose Alvarado (1 23 ⁄ innings) and Sergio Romo (one inning).
“We won, so it’s a pretty good day,” Stanek said. “It’s like anything, the more you do something, the more comfortable you’re going to be. It’s definitely starting to become a little more normal. It’s not really coming like a surprise.” It was Stanek’s fourth start. “Stanek set the tone,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “The big story of the game was the bullpen, how they pieced it together.”
Pruitt (2-3) allowed four hits and a run but picked up the win. Romo allowed the other hit but locked down his second save.
“It’s always fun seeing guys come in behind you and get the job done,” Pruitt said.
Ramos put the Rays up 2-0 with his two-run drive off Jaime Garcia (2-5) in the third.
Garcia gave up four runs, four hits and struck out four in fiveplus innings. The left-hander is 1-4 in seven road starts, allowing 28 earned runs over 31 13 ⁄ innings.
“I competed and tried to make pitches,” Garcia said. “There’s a couple of walks there that I’ve got to do a better there.”
Garcia departed after C.J Cron walked and went to third on Willy Adames’ double to start the sixth. Pinch-hitter Joey Wendle and Mallex Smith both had run-scoring singles off Joe Biagini.
Yankees 3, Nationals 0
NEW YORK — Didi Gregorius ended a long power outage with a pair of home runs, Washington slugger Bryce Harper left in the eighth inning after he was hit by a pitch for the second time, and the New York Yankees beat the Nationals 3-0 on Tuesday night.
Harper fell to the ground in pain when hit on the right elbow by a pitch from CC Sabathia (4-1) in the fifth inning. The 2015 NL MVP initially remained in the game but came out after he was hit on the left foot by Dellin Betances’ slider leading off the eighth.