DRaysBay: All Posts by Erik Hahmann

Rays 3, Orioles 1: Rays Sweep O's Behind Moore's Strong Start

2013-05-19T21:23:16Z

Whenever you can be mentioned in the same breath as Babe Ruth you're doing something right. Unless, as Rays color man Brian Anderson noted, it's for something off the field. Today Matt Moore joined Ruth in becoming just the second left handed starter age 24 or younger to start a season 8-0.

We all know that wins don't mean a whole lot, but being 8-0 with an ERA of 2.29 is awful helpful on a team with struggling starting pitching. He only struck out three hitters, but, more importantly, walked just one. His seven innings were the second most he's worked this season. It wasn't as easy of an outing as the box score may suggest, though.

The Orioles had men in scoring position four times against Moore but were able to collect just one hit in those situations. That's been Moore's MO this season. Coming into today hitters had a line of .032/.143/.111 against him with RISP. Adam Jones was able to single in Manny Machado after his leadoff triple in the fourth (which should have been caught by Jennings or Joyce), scoring the O's only run. Jones then stole second and third base, putting Moore in another jam but he was able to retire the next two hitters without any further damage.

There were a few too many three ball counts, forcing Moore to make perfect pitches, but in most instances he did just that and helped the Rays to a series sweep. Joel Peralta and Fernando Rodney threw a perfect inning apiece.

The Rays offense wasn't nearly as explosive as it was the first two games, doing just enough to get the win. The play everyone will be talking about occured in the top of the sixth inning when Matt Joyce hit a line drive toward the wall in right field. It hit between the wall and the foul pole -- in a strange middle area not painted yellow for some reason.

via cdn3.mocksession.com

After being ruled a double, Baltimore manager Buck Showalter came out to argue that the ball landed fair. Maddon, knowing the ball couldn't be overruled, asked the umpires to review the play, thinking it was a home run. The sequence took 10 minutes, with both managers unhappy, arguing their case for 9 minutes. Thankfully once they did review the play it was correctly called a home run. Joyce had a huge series, picking up five hits, including two home runs, while driving in six. On the season he has a .351 wOBA and 124. wRC+.

Evan Longoria extended his hitting streak to 13 games and has reached base in all but one game this season.

The series sweep also evens the Rays with the Orioles at 23-20.

Rays 6, Padres 3: Alex Cobb Makes History

2013-05-11T03:48:50Z

They say baseball is a great game because anytime you go to the ballpark there's a chance you'll see something that's never happened before. Tonight we got just that.

Alex Cobb doesn't strike many guys out. He's not on a Wade Davis level, but he's not Justin Verlander either.. His career K/9 is 6.86. In his start against the Padres it was 25.07. That's not a typo. He faced 23 batters, struck out 13 and got another two to ground out. Let's take a look at some amazing feats he accomplished tonight.

-He got as many outs on balls in play as Jake McGee did in his one inning of work.

-He became the first pitcher in MLB history to strike out 13 while working less than five innings.

-He became the first pitcher in at least 100 years to face four batters in an inning, strikeout all four and still allow a run.

-Struck out 56.5% of the batters he faced.

-Induced 23 swinging strikes...21 on the changeup. In fact, he threw only 42 changeups, meaning ~43% were swung at and missed.

Take a look at the strikezone plot of his at bat results:

via www.brooksbaseball.net

Cobb's outing broke the Rays streak of a starting pitcher working at least five innings. They'd done so in 34 consecutive games, the second longest streak to start a season since 1916. He wasn't able to finish five innings thanks to throwing 117 pitches -- 33 in the first.

The Rays offense stayed on it's torrid pace, plating six runs and collecting eight hits. In their last 22 games, the Rays lead MLB with 124 runs scored while hitting .282/.349/.469. Runs were hard to come by in the first six innings as they scored only two runs on three hits thanks to a few walks and a wild pitch. Then in the seventh inning with the team down by one the offense came alive.

With the bases loaded and no outs Ryan Roberts smacked a single to left field, scoring two and putting the Rays ahead. Ben Zobrist followed that up with a two run single of his own, giving the Rays a three run cushion they wouldn't squander. The only starting member of the lineup not to reach base was Luke Scott.

The much maligned -- for good reason -- bullpen was excellent in support of Cobb. Josh Lueke, Jake McGee, Joel Peralta and Fernando Rodney combined to not give up a hit and walked just two in their extensive cleanup work. Lueke was particularly impressive. Having just been called up to the big league club from Triple-A Durham this afternoon (for the injured Brandon Gomes), Lueke threw 1.1 innings of perfect ball, striking out two in the process. He started off each batter he faced with a slider -- pitching backwards since the Padres were likely expecting his 96mph fastball.

Notes:

-Longoria is now hitting .524 with 9 RBI on the 5 game homestand.

-Rays tied a club record with 18 strikeouts in a nine inning game. Two shy of the MLB record, previously done four times.

Rays 8, Rockies 3: Offense Dominates as Rays Take Series

2013-05-06T01:30:53Z

The Rays wrapped up their road trip Sunday, besting the Rockies 8-3 to finish the trip with a record of 4-5. Alex Cobb recovered nicely from his previous start in Kansas City, throwing 6.2 innings and giving up just three solo home runs to take the victory.

In his previous start he cruised through 5.2 innings but things fell apart quickly after that. Today he maintained composure all game, striking out six and walking just one. Not walking anyone is always important, but it's especially so when you're playing in Colorado. He mixed his pitches very well, throwing 51 fastballs, 31 changeups and 25 curveballs. The curve seemed to be his best pitch as it registered the highest strike percentage and accounted for the most, and highest percentage of whiffs.

Cobb faced his toughest challenge in the fifth inning with the Rays leading 3-2. With men on first and second and just one out Troy Tulowitzki, always a threat for an extra base hit, and having homered the previous inning, came to the plate. I was interested in watching how Cobb would attack him but the at bat lasted just one pitch as Tulowitzki swung at a curveball, grounding into a 6-4-3 double play. All told Cobb recorded 10 groundouts to just two flyball outs, upping his GB% to an even 50% for the season.

It's amazing how easy this game is when you get hits with runners in scoring position. The Rays scored all their runs that way, going 5-11 without a home run. The middle of the lineup, sans Ben Zobrist, did all of the damage. James Loney, Kelly Johnson, Ryan Roberts, and Jose Lobaton went a combined 8-16 with seven RBI. Loney racked up three hits again, boosting him to an AL leading seven games with three or more hits. He's on an amazing run at the moment. On April 16th he was hitting .167/.265/.233. Over the next 17 games he's raised that line to .398/.444/.542. Johnson has been a nice addition as well, posting a .331 wOBA and 112 wRC+ in 94 plate appearances. He's already surpassed his WAR total from all of last season.

The Rays return home to face two struggling teams, the Blue Jays and Padres, before ending the home stand with the first place Red Sox. Picking up two series victories before the Sox come into town would go a long way to improving their standing in the division.

Rays 8, White Sox 3: David Price Records First Win

2013-04-28T22:31:45Z

Splitting a road series is never a bad thing. It just feels much, much better when you win the final two games to split instead of losing them. The past two games the Rays have flexed their offensive muscle, scoring 10 and eight runs respectively. Today also marked the first win for David Price, which has more symbolic value than actual importance.

Price worked deep into the game for the second straight start, allowing three earned runs while striking out nine. Through the first three innings the White Sox had three runs on four hits. Over the next four they managed just a lone single and walk while striking out five times. As the Rays have been wont to do this year, all the White Sox runs came with two outs. He wouldn't have gotten the win if Maddon had taken him out of the game following the sixth inning with the Rays trailing and Price sitting at 105 pitches. The Rays ran into some good fortune as Tyler Flowers lined into a double play after a leadoff single by Conor Gillaspie, who was running on the pitch. Price got Dewayne Wise to ground out to end his day.

As he came off the mound Price seemed unhappy with home plate umpire Tom Hallion, who had a pretty tight strikezone all afternoon, and exchanged some words. He didn't get ejected, though, the typically even keeled Jeremy Hellickson did. Per Rays' beat writer Mark Topkin, Price said he said nothing to provoke Hallion and the bench was upset because Hallion told him to "throw the ball over the f-in plate". If that's the case, and I would imagine it has to be since Hellickson doesn't get mad over nothing, I hope MLB reprimands Hallion in some way.

Update: Per Mark Topkin again: "Umpire Tom Hallion, to pool reporter, on #Rays @DAVIDprice14's claim he cursed him: "I'll come right out bluntly and say he's a liar,'" Interesting.

It was good to see his fastball average 94mph and even better to see him use his changeup with such success. He threw it just 7 times but recorded six strikes and four whiffs.

The Rays' offense came alive in the sixth inning. With the team trailing 3-1 Desmond Jennings leadoff the inning with a ground rule double. That was quickly followed by a Matt Joyce home run, tying the game. The Rays would take the lead in the eighth as Ben Zobrist singled home Sean Rodriguez. Evan Longoria followed that up with a walk to load the bases. After a James Loney fly out, Ryan Roberts came up to face Jesse Crain. Roberts hit a pop up to short right field and Alex Rios simply dropped it, allowing Joyce and Zobrist to score, giving the Rays a 6-3 lead. They'd tack on two more in the ninth as Fernando Rodney closed it out.

It wasn't quite as impressive as last night's offensive barrage, but eight runs on eight hits is still impressive. Now the team heads to Kansas City to face the first place Royals and old mate James Shields.

Rays 5, Yankees 1: Moore and Roberts Shine In Victory

2013-04-23T04:21:31Z

Rays have allowed 3 hits or fewer in three straight games, matching the longest streak in the American League since 1975.

After a frustrating first two weeks of the season the Rays have really turned it around these last four games. Sure, the last four games are also a small sample size, but the team is obviously playing better -- much closer to their ability than the 2-7 road trip showed.

While Ryan Roberts was great, tonight begins and ends with Matt Moore. The Yankees didn't exactly roll out what you would call a "good offense" but Moore was nonetheless terrific. It didn't seem likely that Moore would finish the seventh inning, but then he did in just seven pitches. It didn't seem likely that he would finish the eighth inning, but then he did in just 12 pitches, setting a new career high (117). All told, Moore would finish with those eight innings having allowed two hits, one run, three walks while striking out nine.

His relied on his bread and butter pitches, the fastball and changeup, throwing each for a strike over 75% of the time. Against the Yankee's left-handed hitters the plan was simple, pound them with fastballs. Of the 50 pitches he threw to lefty hitters 39 were fastballs. He threw the changeup just twice and got zero whiffs, as opposed to 15 times against righties with six whiffs. For the most part he worked away to both lefties and righties and was able to get some pretty amazing movement on his changeup down in the zone. Take the first three at bats of Vernon Wells.

1st inning:

4th:

6th:

If you remove the scoreboard in the top left corner you'd have no idea what inning this was from:

via gif.mocksession.com

That may be one of the most pathetic swings I've ever seen.

The only blemish on Moore's night was a hanging breaking back with two strikes that Robinson Cano laughed into the right field seats. His ERA actually increased from 1.00 to 1.04, but he became the first Rays pitcher to win his first four starts of a season. Like, ever. With James Shields in Kansas City the Rays were counting on Moore making a leap. This is exactly what they had in mind.

Moore's night was made easier by the Rays' offense, which came through with five runs of support, four coming in the first inning. After a Desmond Jennings strikeout, Ryan Roberts took C.C. Sabathia deep to left field. Evan Longoria singled to center and first basemen Sean Rodriguez brought him home with a triple to right. The red hot Yunel Escobar unloaded an opposite field homerun -- his second in as many nights. He and Roberts became the first pair of middle infielders to homer in the same inning in Rays history. Somewhere Brendan Harris and Josh Wilson are pissed. Roberts would add another home run in the third inning and a single later on to cap off a great night at the plate.

According to Rays' employee @cvanderkam the Rays have allowed three hits or fewer in three straight games, matching the longest streak in the American League since 1975.

Pitch f/x chart via BrooksBaseball and GIF via @bubbaprog

Rays 6, Orioles 10: The Road Trip Ends, Thankfully

2013-04-19T03:48:44Z

Tonight's 10-6 loss to the Orioles wraps up a road trip in which the Rays went 2-7 and played some of the worst baseball I've seen from them over the past five seasons. Writing a detailed recap would only anger me further, so lets just hit the major points from tonight's game.

I'm writing this before hearing Maddon's explanation, but taking out David Price after just 86 pitches through six innings is odd. Yes, Price got hit with a line drive and Baltimore squared up some pitches on the night, but he hadn't talked a soul and thrown just 16 balls. It's possible he was gassed and he certainly hasn't been himself yet this season, but it was disheartening to see Jake McGee come in and give up a go-ahead home run to the first batter he sees. Every batter gets their moment at some point in the season, this was likely Steve Pearce's.

People love to live in the land of hindsight and the Maddon haters will have plenty to rant on tomorrow. After removing Jamey Wright after a leadoff single in the top of the 10th, Maddon brought in Brandon Gomes. You know the rest of the story -- Gomes threw 4 pitches and the Orioles collected four hits and a walk off victory. The ball Adam Jones hit should have been caught by Zobrist. I'm sure he'll even tell you that. He ran back on the ball and took a peek at the wall before pulling up as the ball landed on the warning track. Jones should have been out anyway, as he failed to re-touch second base on his way back to first.

The pitchers may not have executed perfectly but the defense didn't do them any favors. Matt Joyce missed a foul ball in the second inning and made a poor throw as Wieters doubled later in the at bat. Yunel Escobar fumbled the exchange on a would be double play in the same inning, getting one out instead of two. The next batter fly out to left which would have ended the inning. Instead, Nolan Reimold came to the plate and hit a game tying home run.

The offense was better once again. They hit four home runs, though they were all solo. Evan Longoria has three homers in his last four games. Kelly Johnson's power stroke is coming around. Hell, even James Loney has looked good. If the Rays score 16 runs in every three game series, like they did in this one, they're likely to win many more than they lose.

It's an extremely frustrating loss in what has been an extremely frustrating start to the season. Hopefully as the season progresses the offense and pitching will come together to work as a cohesive unit. The Oakland A's come to town this weekend as the Rays' tough April continues. They're 12-4 and own the best run differential in the American League (+33).

Rays 0, Red Sox 5: Buchholz Shines As Rays' Bats Go Silent

2013-04-14T22:07:50Z

Today's game is one that looked all too familiar for Rays fans. They were on the verge of being no hit for the fifth time in the past five seasons until Kelly Johnson lead off the eighth inning with a single. Boston starter Clay Buchholz was magnificent, working eight innings and dominating the Rays' lineup.

It's games like this that make you wonder why Buchholz hasn't put up better numbers over his career. He's been outstanding this season with former Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell now his manager. The last time Farrell worked with Buchholz was 2010 and all he did was put up a 2.33 ERA over 173 innings. Today he kept the Rays off balance with a nice mixture of pitches, using his changeup especially well. He threw the pitch 19 times for 14 strikes and seven whiffs. He did walk four batters, giving the Rays some scoring chances, but in what seems to be a trend this season, they failed to cash in.

The Rays' offense, 0-11 in yesterday's 2-1 loss with RISP, failed to register a hit today as well going 0-6. The hits came from Johnson, Desmond Jennings, and Evan Longoria. Ben Zobrist added two walks while James Loney and Fuld added one apiece.

Alex Cobb didn't pitch poorly, working into the seventh inning despite a hectic third. After a leadoff single from Jacoby Ellsbury a bunt was laid down by Shane Victorino that trickled up the third base line. It went into foul territory in short order, but rolled back fair before Jose Molina could get a hand on it. When he did decide to pick it up replays showed it was likely headed back foul. There was no reason for him to pick it up when he did -- Ellsbury wasn't going to take third. A single by Dustin Pedroia loaded the bases for Mike Napoli who crushed a double into the triangle in right-center, scoring two. An error by Yunel Escobar two batters later allowed the Red Sox to tack on two more.

As per usual for Cobb his changeup was his best pitch, registering a strike percentage of 88%. As Tommy Rancel pointed out on Twitter, it was a very Shieldsian performance. He had one rough inning but rebounded to work deep enough into the game so that the bullpen wasn't affected.

Tomorrow is an early start thanks to Patriot's Day. Jeremy Hellickson and Ryan Dempster will toe the rubber at 11:05 as the Rays try to avoid the sweep.

Rays 1, Rangers 6: Rookie Tepesch Dominates Rays Lineup

2013-04-10T03:42:07Z

They say baseball is a game of inches and that cliche was on full display tonight.

Rays' starter Roberto Hernandez pitched well -- much better than his line score will suggest. The right hander went 6.2 innings, gave up five earned runs, walked two and struck out four. Of the eight hits he allowed only one went for extra bases, and he induced 11 groundouts.

After the Rays had scored in the top of the third inning, the Rangers had two on and two outs with Lance Berkman at the plate. Berkman lifted a bloop single into shallow center between Ben Zobrist and Desmond Jennings, allowing both runners to come around to score. In the sixth inning Leonys Martin made weak contact but hit a flare into left field for a single and would eventually score when Elvis Andrus shot a single up the middle, just out of the reach of Yunel Escobar. Andrus, after stealing second, would advance to third after a Lance Berkman liner to left-center dropped for a single as Matt Joyce looked to take a bad route to the ball, then missed it on his dive attempt. Adrian Beltre would ground out to first a batter later allowing Andrus to score.

The Rangers would score again in the seventh after the usually sure handed James Loney flubbed a ground ball, allowing Craig Gentry to make it home all the way from second.

Offensively the Rays did little to help their cause, but the game would have been much closer had a few inches here or there gone in their favor on the defensive end. Rangers' starter Nick Tepesch was the issue for the Rays' offense. Making his major league debut after throwing just 90 innings above Class-A, Tepesch dominated the Rays lineup. The 24-year-old pitched into the eighth inning, allowing just one run and recording 14 groundouts. His fastball was effective all night, but he really confounded the Rays with his curveball, causing a lot of half-swings for strikes or soft ground balls for outs. He worked down in the zone all night and kept the ball away from both lefties and righties, forcing them to chase his slider.

This hasn't been the best start to the road trip, but tomorrow is a new day as Matt Moore toes the rubber. This will be Moore's first start in Texas since he won game one of the 2011 ALDS by throwing seven innings of shutout baseball after having just one career start under his belt. Hopefully he can bring some of that magic back with him.