Baseball, especially the Rays brand of baseball, relies on doing all the little things well. Baseball is also a very luck dependent sport. But, doing the little things can help manufacture some luck.
Perhaps no player exemplifies that more than Chandler Simpson. Simpson got things started right away, with a comebacker to Gausman, who was rushed to try and field it and took his attention and eyes off the ball litterally and figuratively trying to get the speedy Simpson. Once on first, Simpson drew even more attention even without running. A few pitches later Chandler was in motion allowing Junior Caminero to punch one the other way into a gaping wide hole drawn by the runner in motion. Of course once that ball found grass, Simpson was cruising into 3rd, allowing Jonathan Aranda to lift a fly ball to get the Rays on the board in the 1st.
The Rays weren’t done with Gausman in the 1st, and with some 2 out magic, Jake Fraley double and a Richie Palacios two RBI base hit gave the Rays an early 3-0 lead. They would expand that in the 2nd, with some more clutch and agressive base running. Hunter Feduccia got a single, followed by a Taylor Walls triple (it was a game for inexplicable contributions, more on that later) with Feduccia getting a good read and sprinting around to score 1st to home.
After a sharp Chandler Simpson grounder to a drawn in Vlad Jr, Vladdy was able to make an excellent throw home to get Walls just in time to save a run. However, that trade off meant Chandler was now on 1st. He would be on 2nd a few pitches later, swiping his 13th bag of the season. Aranda (again) got a broken bat liner to fall in to give the Rays a 5-0 lead.
With the Rays pitching lately that should have been all she wrote. And with Drew Rasmussen on the mound, things were looking good. In fact, Drew was fairly sharp today. 13 total whiffs, only 3 hard hit balls over the course of 6 innings with 4 scattered hits, 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts. However, there was one little thing that proved to be a thorn in the Rays side.
You probably guessed by the title of this recap who that is: light hitting defensive wiz Andrés Giménez. In the 2nd inning Rasmussen ran into a bit of trouble. After nearly working his way off the hook, Giménez stepped up to the plate with runners at 3rd and 1st, 2 out. Rasmussen fell behind and landed a sharp 97 MPH fastball busting him inside.
Absolutely no way that’s a dangerous or risky pitch. Especially not to Giménez. And yet, Andrés guessed correctly and was able to turn on it with just enough speed and just enough distance to just get out. About as many runs as the Rays have given up in any game in weeks and it came on one swing by a guy who had 3 HRs on the year. That’s luck and that’s baseball.
But again, you gotta generate your own luck and back to Chandler to provide some insurance. In the 4th, 2 outs and Guasman back to cruising along after a rough first two innings, Chandler Simpson worked the count full and hit a grounder to 1st that drew Vlad off the bag to field it. Chandler won the footrace with ease beating Gausman by a full length. Once on 1st, Gausman was cruising no more, clearly preoccupied with Simpson.
First two throw overs and then Gausman was up there balking around, which Chandler and the umps caught. Once on 2nd, even with Junior at the plate, the Rays and Chandler decided to keep the pressure ball on the very next pitch.
The steal 3rd force a throw and maybe you can generate a run play is a thing of beauty when it works, and with Chandler running it causes all sorts of chaos. Small ball, big rewards.
The game was all but decided there, but the drama still had some turns. Aranda who took the lead in the RBI race after his 2nd RBI of the night decided to celebrate that with a towering HR to center field.
Of course, when I talk about little things, and the Jays are involved, I have to talk about John Schneider, manager of the Jays and a small, petty man. After Aranda’s HR the next time up, Braydon Fisher who has normally excellent command, very few walks or HBP, threw his first pitch nearly behind Aranda drilling him in the back.
Rays were able to expand their lead after a couple of grounders to advance Aranda, and a 2 out base knock by Palacios. Small ball revenge, after Schneider’s feelings were hurt and he showed off his own small beanball.
Andrés Giménez would add another HR, this time of the 2-run variety, but that would just bring the score closer to eventually allow Bryan Baker to get his 11th save of the season (fittingly with a punchout to Andrés Giménez).
4o games into the season (around 25% of the season) is roughly around the time you start to know what a team is in baseball. With this win in game number 40 today, the Rays maintain their AL best 27-13 record.
This team does a lot of little things really well. This team confounds several bits of traditional wisdom. This team is an outlier.
Mostly, to paraphrase an expression of one of the Rays new employees: this team is fun!
