RAYS CONTINUE MASTERY OF YANKS
Even the sternest skeptics are starting to realize the Tampa Bay Rays are for real.
“There’s no reason for people to not think that. We’re capable of this, as we’ve shown,” Josh Lowe said after homering with a career-high five RBIs Thursday night in a 8-2 rout of the New York Yankees.
Drew Rasmussen (4-2) extended his scoreless streak against the Yankees to 21 innings, and Tampa Bay became the first team to open 30-9 since the 2001 Seattle Mariners. The Rays won three of four from the host Yankees in a seven-day span, opening a nine-game AL East lead.
Tampa Bay has scored the most runs (239) in the big leagues and allowed the fewest (118).
“It’s really cool to see the things we’ve been able to do over the first month and a half,” Rasmussen said. “It’s nice to create a little space if
Rays 8, Yankees 2
we can, but by no means do I think they’ll be buried.”
In the opener of a fourgame series, Lowe hit a three-run double on Ron Marinaccio’s second straight changeup to open a 4-0 lead in the sixth and added a two-run homer on Ryan Weber’s first-pitch changeup in a three-run eighth. The 435-foot drive over the Yankees bullpen in right-center was Lowe’s eighth home run this season.
Lowe has eight homers, 25 RBIs and a .314 average after entering the season 13 RBIs in 52 career big league games.
“He learned a lot from maybe not performing like he was capable of,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “It’s tough, and he lived it for a long time last year.”
Rasmussen (4-2) allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings with no walks and seven strikeouts, including Aaron Judge three times.
Used as a reliever by Milwaukee, Rasmussen was turned into a starter after the Rays acquired him in May 2021 and displayed an array of fastballs, curveballs, sinkers, cutters and sweepers against the Yankees.
“Don’t have fear,” he said of the Rays’ teaching lesson. “The main thing they did is show me how many times I’ve been victimized on balls down the middle, and it’s a surprisingly low amount of times. Hitting is really, really hard, and so if you continue to attack the strike zone, you have a pretty good chance of success.”
Jake Diekman, signed this week after his release from the Chicago White Sox, pitched a hitless eighth in his Rays debut. Javy Guerra allowed a two-run single to Gleyber Torres with two outs in the ninth and finished a four-hitter.
Following this series, the Yankees don’t play the Rays again until July 31.
“You want to try to gain some ground on them” Judge said, “keep it close.”
Notable
At 6-foot-8, Miami Marlins prospect Eury Pérez towers above most pitchers.
Pérez will make his major league debut today when the Miami hosts Cincinnati. At 20 years, 27 days, he’ll become the youngest pitcher in the club’s history and the only MLB player born after 2002.
Twins pitcher Tyler Mahle will undergo elbow reconstruction surgery after an MRI showed issues with the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow.
Rays left-hander Tyler Glasnow was cleared to make his next minor league injury rehabilitation appearance in his return from an oblique injury, a day after a start was cut short by left side tightness.
Right-hander Ian Kennedy was designated for assignment by the Rangers after a tough start to his 17th season in the big leagues.