Rays’ Rasmussen delivers in home victory over Seattle
ST. PETERSBURG — Drew Rasmussen admitted to being frustrated after his previous start, having pitched his way out of an April 20 game in chilly Chicago after just three innings by throwing too many pitches — 79, to be exact.
Wednesday, he did something about it.
Pitching inside the friendly confines of Tropicana Field, Rasmussen delivered arguably the best start of his still-young big-league career in leading the Rays to a 3-2 win over the Mariners.
Rasmussen worked six strong shutout innings, allowing just two hits and striking out a career-high nine while getting 19 swingand-misses, retiring his last 10 batters — and throwing just 84 pitches.
All in all, a good night for the Washington state native, who said, “It’s always cool to have the honor of going up against the team you grew up rooting for and watching.”
Rasmussen got a quick run to work with when Randy Arozarena drew a leadoff walk in the first, stole second and went to third on an errant throw, then scored when Harold Ramirez lined a ball off the left wrist of Seattle starter Marco Gonzales. The veteran lefty exited the game with what the team said was a bruised wrist.
The Rays added to the lead with another big hit from Kevin Kiermaier, who delivered a two-run homer in the fourth on the final pitch from Seattle reliever Yohan Ramirez, who had replaced Gonzalez.
It was the second homer in three games for Kiermaier, who had gone 48 games since his last — back to Aug. 16, 2021.
The Mariners closed to 3-2 on an Abraham Toro home run off Andrew Kittredge with two outs in the ninth.
The win was just the second for the Rays against the Mariners in their last nine games and third in the last 12. The teams wrap up the three-game series with a Thursday matinee, then play four games next weekend in Seattle.
Attendance was a seasonlow 7,290.
As one of the most available, experienced and loquacious players in the Rays clubhouse, Kiermaier often ends up with reporters and TV cameras gathered at his locker as he speaks for the team.
Over the weekend, Kiermaier showed he also can still play a pretty good game.
Saturday, he fulfilled one of his two career dreams in hitting a walkoff home run that gave the Rays a historic win over the Red Sox.
Then Sunday, patrolling centerfield with his usual pride and prowess, he made a spectacular over-the-shoulder basket catch look routine to preserve a lead.
“KK has a lot of moments for us,” manager Kevin Cash said after Sunday’s win. “He had a huge one [Saturday] night. He has so many moments in the field. I don’t ever want to say you take them for granted. We appreciate them all.”
Kiermaier has three gold — and one platinum — gloves at his Tampa home, and he’d likely have another one or two if not for injuries, to validate his defensive wizardry.
Offensive contributions have been a bit more sparse, which explains why the home run was the much better highlight for Kiermaier, capping a big week as he turned 32 on Friday and a few days earlier had a reunion in Chicago with older brother Dan, the head groundskeeper at Wrigley Field.
“The walkoff homer was way cooler than any catch,” he said. “I’ve made plenty of catches in my career. Any time you can make an impact, offensively, defensively, on the bases, you try to come up big for your team.
“I was able to have one of the biggest swings of my career [Saturday] and made a nice catch [Sunday]. When you step between the white lines, you just want to win games. My pitchers know that and they trust me. If they attack the zone, they know they have a good defense behind them.”
Plus, the home run was more dramatic.
Six Rays relievers had combined to no-hit the Red Sox for nine innings, but Boston had gone ahead 2-0 in the 10th. The Rays got one back when Taylor Walls’ hustle on a two-out grounder to second forced a bad throw, extending the game, scoring Randy Arozarena and bringing Kiermaier to the plate.
He worked the count to 3-1, got the Hansel Robles fastball he was looking for and lasered it, at 105.6 mph, over the rightfield fence.
His first game-ending home run — at any level — made the Rays, per ESPN, the first team in major-league history to lose a no-hitter in extra innings and then win the game on a walkoff. (Two road teams had won after losing no-hitters in extras: the 1995 Expos and 1904 Cubs.)
“I said before my career’s over I want to win a World Series and No. 2 behind that I want to hit a walkoff,” Kiermaier said. “I want to know what this moment’s like. I now know it.”