The Rays picked up win number two on the season Sunday afternoon in front of another sold out crowd at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Taj Bradley got the ball and faced off against Ryan Feltner.
Off days for Junior Caminero, Christopher Morel, and Danny Jansen, plus a major league debut for Jake Mangum made for an interesting Rays lineup. Mangum slotted right into the number two spot, and Taylor Walls jumped from the bottom of the order to the middle, hitting fifth for only the eighth time in his career. Mangum, 29, was called up to replace an injured Josh Lowe. He was initially acquired by the Rays from Miami in the Vidal Brujan trade.
Feltner hung a first pitch breaking ball to Brandon Lowe in the bottom of the first, and Lowe didn’t miss it. Finally, continual hard contact was paying off for the Rays, and this blast gave them an early 2-0 lead.
Taj Bradley looked incredibly sharp in his first start of the season, capturing the combination of stuff and command we saw in spurts last year. He gave up runs in the fifth and sixth inning, but finished his outing with seven strikeouts and zero walks.
It all came together for the Rays in the sixth inning, albeit with a little help from the Colorado defense. The Rays sent 10 hitters to the plate and scored four runs to regain a lead they would never give back. Jonathan Aranda was hit by a pitch with one out, followed three-straight singles from Taylor Walls, pinch-hitting Junior Caminero, and Jose Caballero.
Caballero ended up at second base after his bunt-single after an errant throw from Rockies’ catcher Jacob Stallings. He then stole third base before scoring on a ground ball from Ben Rortvedt, forcing a throw from Ryan McMahon that he would ultimately beat to make it 6-2. A run created almost entirely by his legs.
The Rays bullpen held onto the lead over the last three innings, and only Kevin Kelly got dinged for any runs. A two-run home run for new Rockie and former first overall pick Mickey Moniak made things interesting in the seventh, but Kevin Cash turned to Edwin Uceta and Pete Fairbanks to record the final six outs of the game. Fairbanks allowed two baserunners in the ninth, but used his still-killer stuff to get out of it unscathed and record his first save.
This is the sixth time in seven year that the Rays have started the season with a series victory. Last year, they split a four-game set with Toronto to open the campaign.
Next up, the Rays will play their second consecutive interleave series, the first time in franchise history they’ve played two National League teams back-to-back to open a season. It’s the Pittsburgh Pirates coming to Tampa, and the Rays will face the reigning NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young favorite Paul Skenes in the finale on Wednesday.
