Rays 4, Twins 6: Sometimes ya just gotta tip your cap

Ahhhh, today was vintage 2014. Start off slow, come back, surprise everyone, and then break their hearts near the end thanks to some bullpen problems.

Alex Colome pitched even worse than his line illustrates. He was all over the place, throwing meatballs and even though he didn't walk anyone, he gave up six hits and hit Brian Dozier. It's not exactly the sort of performance we were all looking for after his solid couple of starts. For the Rays to be successful this year, the young pitchers need to step up more than ever before to fill the Cobb and Smyly sized holes. Maybe he's just sick with whatever Longoria and Geltz had. And despite it all, he's still a damn good #5. Boy I can't wait for Matt Moore to come back.

As shaky as Colome was however, Andrew Bellatti managed to somehow escape allowing any runs for 2.2 innings, running his scoreless inning streak to start his major league career to six. Bellati benefited from a stellar throw by Rene Rivera to catch Brian Dozier stealing third base. Perhaps most impressively, after allowing a single and a double in the sixth inning, Bellatti struck out the side to end the inning, stranding runners on third and second. It was pretty great, and I would like to see more pitch analysis of Bellatti to make heads or tails of whether or not he can be a useful piece to the major league club. Maybe not a high leverage guy, but an innings eater, or a caddy to Erasmo? (who, lord knows, will probably be a starting pitcher until September with the Rays' injury luck.

In the seventh Cash called to Jepsen, who immediately looked shaky. Torii Hunter singled to left and Joe Mauer drew a walk. Right after that, Trevor Plouffe hit a roller right in front of the pitcher. Jepsen, clearly, was thinking double play all the way, but the ball wasn't going anywhere. Instead, Jepsen rushed the throw to second, pulling Beckham off the bag and making sure no outs were recorded. A sac fly and a base hit later, and the Twins had scored the decisive two runs of the game. Geltz relieved Jepsen and (obviously) struck out the only guy he faced, but it didn't matter too much.

Logan Forsythe was the MVP today, scoring a run on a sac fly in the fourth and whacking a solo homer to left in the ninth. Unfortunately it wasn't enough and the Rays fell 6-4 today. Tomorrow they hope to avoid the sweep, and if the weather is permitting, Chris Archer will start against Kyle Gibson. Here's hoping for a Yankees loss and a Rays win.

• Mauer channeled his inner Longoria and GIDP'd twice: once in the first and once in the third, allowing Alex Colome to dance out of innings that should've been a whole lot worse.

Great to hear @rustykath handling the MC duties here at Target Field...

— Dave Wills (@davewills34) May 16, 2015

I miss Rusty more than I miss some of my relatives. That new guy is pretty bad.

• Last night in the 7th when the Twins had tied the game and had a guy on 3rd base with no outs, Brian Anderson though it was a good time to mention that last year, the Twins were the worst in the league in getting a guy in in that situation. With a runner of third and less than two outs, the Twins got the guy in only 48% of the time. Of course, they immediately converted the run, but the Rays picked up when the Twins left off last year by leading off the third inning with a Cabby triple to center and not getting him in. Tim Beckham struck out, and Rene Rivera and KK fouled out, which is the most frustrating out there is, I think. Tim Beckham is a failure and we should all give up on him.

Estimated distance on homer by #Rays Beckham, 420 feet

— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) May 16, 2015

Tim Beckham is a national treasure and we should give him all of our money.

Roll Call Info
Total comments	326
Total commenters	21
Commenter list	Adam Sanford, BravesRays, Brett Phillips, Brian Andersbot, Brickhaus, DFAHowell, Danny Russell, JRTW612, MagicMark, Mr.Jenkins, MrWizzle21, Noles95', Rays1118, RazeTheRoof, essenpee, kfharlock, pudieron89 of BWA, swampchomp7, the dobber, thedudeofdudes, youcancallmeRayRay
Story URLs	http://www.draysbay.com/2015/5/16/8614897/gdt-it-would-be-awfully-nice-to-win-today

# Recs	Commenter	Comment Link
7	Danny Russell	put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Wizzle
5	thedudeofdudes	Hopefully Bellati can speed through this lineup
2	Brett Phillips	yikes
2	kfharlock	Well, I'm not LYING about hitting a few keys on my keyboard.
2	Brian Andersbot	If he can get that jump more often then there's no reason not to send him
2	Mr.Jenkins	I also have four DUIs.
1	Mr.Jenkins	Who's walk up music is Thuggish Ruggish Bone? That dude is a fucking OG.
1	Danny Russell	The Butler didn't do it
1	Danny Russell	Frosty has been the best part of almost every Rays game this year
1	kfharlock	Apropos of nothing,
1	Brian Andersbot	Good job.
1	pudieron89 of BWA	I think it's a little reckless to bring him in here.
1	MrWizzle21	Oh c'mon he'd still be there if he didn't cry over the Olympic team
1	Danny Russell	Balls on bases
1	Brian Andersbot	BSL's resident alcoholic would mop the floor in a liver-killing contest
1	pudieron89 of BWA	oh hatfiled on his phone while hanging out with his wife/friends? cool!
1	Adam Sanford	SEXY BEXY!!!