TB 2, Anaheim 3: Angels ruin Dickerson’s birthday

Well, this certainly was a game to forget.

Jake Odorizzi pitched alright. He looked less effective than his line of sic innings and two earned runs would suggest, working through some tricky spots to give the Rays more than a chance to take this series opener. Odorizzi allowed baserunners in five of his six innings and seemed be in trouble a good deal of the time.

Odorizzi wasn’t his sharpest, but he pitched well enough to keep the Rays in the game, and even K’d Trout twice. I (and the Rays) would take that anytime.

The Rays offense jumped out quickly, with birthday boy Corey Dickerson slugging his 5th leadoff HR of the year — an opposite field blast.

Fellow DRaysBay writer Dan Slaubaugh said it best in our Slack chat: “Corey Dickerson is must-watch television”.

Logan Morrison, not wanting to lose his team lead in home runs, slammed his own solo shot to give the Rays a first inning 2-1 lead. Sadly, this would be the extent of the Rays offense for the night against JC Ramirez (who is, after a quick Google search, not a former member of NSYNC).

With the bats unable to add to the early lead, the game would move on to the seventh tied at 2. This was when Jumbo Diaz got the call.

Jumbo immediately walked Jefry Marte. A wild pitch, which Norris had little chance to block, advanced Marte into scoring position. Jumbo rebounded to get a strikeout and a fly out, and was within one strike of escaping the seventh inning. But Cameron Maybin manage to lay off two close pitches out of the zone to draw the walk.

That brought up Mike Trout, a pretty talented baseball player, was next. Jumbo then gave way to Ryne Stanek.

Remember a week ago when Kevin Cash said he wasn’t going to coddle Stanek? Well, bringing him in to face future Hall of Famer Mike Trout at the plate with a go-ahead run at third is certainly not coddling.

After missing twice, Stanek intentionally walked Trout to load the bases for Pujols. Stanek started Pujols off with a slider that bounced in the dirt, and Norris made the hockey save. Norris, however, was unable to block the next slider Stanek uncorked into the dirt and just past Norris’ glove. Marte scooted home on the wild pitch.

The Angels’ one-run lead would prove to be insurmountable, and the Rays dropped the series opener.

How fleeting and how sweet it was to be above .500.

Quick Notes:

• Corey Dickerson is an absolute beast. Not only should he be in the All Star Game, but I really want to see the show he could put on in the Home Run Derby.
• The bullpen gave up 0 hits. That’s pretty nice. They did give up 5 walks (2 intentional). That’s not so nice.
• The Gold Arm of Jose Alvarado pitched a perfect inning, notching a K.