The Rays took a large early lead, Rays pitchers gave back most of it, but then instead of completely falling apart the team rallied to pull out the win.
For 6 beautiful innings we enjoyed the kind of game we haven’t gotten to enjoy in a long long time.
They scored seven runs in the first four innings, chasing St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas in the third.
Hits came from the expected places. Brandon Lowe homered to give the Rays a quick first inning lead, although St. Louis quickly tied the game in their half of the second inning.
They also got hits and runs from unexpected places. In the second inning Carson Williams, making his big league debut, reached on an error, and then Tristan Gray managed to make the score 3-1 on this:
Since I’ve pretty much greeted every Gray at bat with the cry of “why? why?” I am happy, indeed delighted to celebrate this success.
In the third inning the Rays scored two more, without the benefit of the long ball. J Lowe and Mangum each singled and pulled off a double steal. Carson Williams singled to knock in his first major league run, and Bob Seymour followed with an RBI single of his own to make the score 5-1.
And that’s not all! In the fourth, Mangum doubled to clear the bases and give the Rays a commanding 7-1 lead.
After those six beautiful innings, however, things got dicey. Adrian Houser had largely kept the Cardinals off the board, allowing two runs through six. Bringing him out for the seventh inning was, perhaps, not the best idea. He allowed a single and a home run to bring the Cardinals within three runs.
It was after that homerun that Cash went to this bullpen and brought in Griffin Jax.
For many Rays fans, the Rays worst trade ever was getting Nelson Cruz from the Twins for Joe Ryan. As we all know, Cruz’s bat went silent the minute he crossed the Florida state line when Ryan has been a top of the rotation starter for the Twins.
I mention that because maybe the Rays just shouldn’t do deadline deals with the Twins. Griffin Jax, previously seen as one of the league’s more effective relievers, has pulled a Nelson Cruz and been pretty darned awful with the Rays. And he managed to do it again today. A single, a home run, and the Cardinals were within one.
At this point I was envisioning the predictable end to the game. More relievers giving up runs. Rays hitters popping up, grounding out and whiffing.
But I was wrong, largely thanks to Carson Williams.
With Hunter Feduccia on first, Williams launched his first home run during his first major league game. The Rays were once again up by three, 9-6, and the entire mood of the game changed. Check out this video for the home run and also for the family celebration in the stands:
Marc Topkin tweeted that Williams was the ninth Rays player to homer in his debut. Does anyone know the other eight?*
Just to add the cherry on the top, Junior homered in the eighth inning to bring us to the final score of 10-6 — he had joked that if Brandon Lowe homered, he would as well and I can see he is keeping his word.
Finally both Baker and Fairbanks pitched scoreless, clean innings (when was the last time Pete has gotten three straight outs rather than torture us with a walk here and a hit there?) to close out the game.
Clearly Carson Williams was the missing spark for this team! But actually it was a very balanced offense, with four players going yard and five having multi-hit games. Hat tip to Jake Mangum, who had been scuffling at the plate and came through with a four hit night, including two doubles. Josh Lowe is another outfielder whose bat has gone cold, so good to see him with three hits, one double and two squibbler infield singles.
The Rays have a rare Saturday off day tomorrow, and they will be back in action on Sunday, when I’m sure noon temperatures will be delightful.
*Here are the players I can think of: Kameron Misner, Wander Franco, and Brandon Guyer.
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