Strong start by Eflin has familiar ring to it
ST. PETERSBURG — In addition to a pesky Pittsburgh Pirates lineup, starting pitcher Zach Eflin had to deal with a difficult dilemma during Thursday’s 3-2 win that improved his majors-best Tampa Bay Rays to a remarkable 26-6.
While going through the standard check for illegal substances after the first inning, Eflin was told by first-base umpire Junior Valentine he had to take off the rubber wedding band he wears underneath his glove on his left hand.
After marrying Lauren in December 2020, Eflin felt pitching with the ring on was important to him and said he wore it for the next two seasons (despite it being technically against the rules) without any real issue.
But Thursday’s umpiring crew, headed by Adrian Johnson, wasn’t going to allow it, and told Eflin either the ring had to go for the second inning or he would.
“I’ve told every umpire that’s asked me to take it off, I said, ‘Hey, look, I respect what you guys do, but I’m going to keep it on. It’s very important to me.’ And most umpires are cool with it, and they’ll kind of let MLB take care of it if they need to,” Eflin explained.
“But this umpire crew was kind of a little different. They seemed a little on edge. But it’s part of it. I said, ‘If you’re going to eject me out of the game, then I’ll take it off.’ And that’s what they ended up coming out and telling me on the mound was that they were going to toss me out of the game if I didn’t take off my rubber ring. So I took it off.”
Eflin then took it out on the Pirates, putting the ring in his back pocket for the second inning before attaching it to the chain on his neck, and delivering a masterful start.
He worked seven shutout innings, allowed only 3 hits, walked none and struck out 10, seven looking. He threw 59 of his 80 pitches for strikes, went to a
three-ball count only once, got 13 swings-and-misses and faced only 23 hitters, two over the minimum.
“It was like a video game,” infielder Taylor Walls said.
The season has seemed a bit that way for the Rays, who after just 36 days are already 20 games over .500.
They’ve matched the second-best 32-game start in the modern era (since 1901), with only three teams having done one better: the 1902 Pirates, 1911 Detroit Tigers and 1984 Tigers each going 27-5. The 1907 Chicago Cubs, 1928 N.Y. Yankees and 1939 Yankees also started 26-6. Of those six teams, four won the World Series and a fifth the National League championship.
Thursday’s win got a bit tense when Jason Adam, stepping in for injured closer Pete Fairbanks, allowed 2 runs in the ninth and had the tying run on second. Nevertheless, it completed a sweep the Pirates who came in with the best record in the National League.
Next, the Rays host the team with the worst record in the American League East, the Yankees (17-15).
“We have to feel good,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We’ve played well all season long. This was an exciting series, because Pittsburgh came in a very, very hot team. That’s a good team over there. They’ve done a nice job. We were fortunate to win.”
Even on a relatively quiet offensive day, the Rays flexed their muscle with three of their 5 hits solo home runs — by Walls (his fifth), Randy Arozarena (eighth) and Yandy Diaz (eighth). The team leads the majors with 67 homers.
“Our goal is more to win every game, not necessarily just win a series,” Walls said. “That’s our mentality, day in and day out. We come in and try to win every game, no matter what it takes. And hopefully throughout the series, it ends up in a sweep. That’s the goal.
“We’re rolling right now. Guys are getting good pitches, getting good swings on it. They actually have a really good pitching staff. They pitched us pretty tough. But we got three when we needed them. And our starting pitching and relief pitching has been huge for us, too.”
That was more than enough for Elfin, with Ryan Thompson and Adam finishing. For the three-game series, the Rays held Pittsburgh, averaging 5.4 runs per game, to four total.
Pitching coach Kyle Snyder praised Eflin, 29, signed as a free agent from Philadelphia, for handling the umpire/ring issue “exceptionally well.”
Eflin figured he had to for the sake of the team — especially with the potential for a suspension in addition to an ejection — but clearly wasn’t happy about.
“I don’t even know what to say,” Eflin said. “Never had a problem. Nor have I ever cheated.”