The Rays played an incredibly hard fought victory to pull within 1 game of .500 (again). The 9th inning brought a ton of dramatics, with HRs from Cron and Miller giving the lead, and Roe hitting everyone to almost give it away.
Perhaps the biggest hero in the 9th was Jesus Sucre, who celebrated his 30th birthday yesterday. With Roe and Alvarado pitching, Sucre was busy blocking some filthy and wild breaking balls in the dirt. Especially important was when the score tightened to just 1 run and the bases loaded, Sucre was throwing his body (and his arm) in front to preserve the Rays lead.
He looked banged up. He looked hurt. But he was damn sure not letting a ball get to the backstop.
After the game Sucre went in for X-Rays. The results allowed the Rays breathe easy for the second time that night:
#Rays Sucre said X-rays on lower forearm were negative. He was concerned about a break, is still sore but quite relieved.
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) May 1, 2018
Rays Links:
- Not lost in the 9th inning drama, Jacob Faria pitched perhaps his best game as a pro so far. He set a personal high with 8 IP, and earned a well deserved shower postgame:
You asked for this, @JDFaria34. pic.twitter.com/SgVEFSdMcG
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 1, 2018
- Going into the game yesterday, the stat that was floating around setting the baseball world abuzz was that the Tampa Bay Rays lead the MLB in batting average.
- Ray Tank has a list of things that happened since the Rays last lost.
- Jay Jaffe at Fangraphs has a piece on Johnny Venters and the other members of the TJS threepeat club.
- CJ Cron is crwn’ing baseball’s lately. One of his hits last night was straight up robbed by an excellent diving catch by Jose Iglesias:
Gettin’ Iggy with it. pic.twitter.com/QhOJ7jB5E7
— MLB (@MLB) May 1, 2018
Around the League:
- The Dodgers got some terrible news: Corey Seager is undergoing Tommy John surgery and will miss the remainder of the season. Jeff Sullivan breaks down how this might be the time to finally panic on their season.
- This is an interesting time to re-read an article from the Los Angeles Times by Andy McCullough on how Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers were a bit concerned with the extra work Corey Seager was putting in each offseason.
- The Brewers Josh Hader has been remarkable this season, and yesterday he was extra nasty. Hader faced 9 batters, K’d 8, and walked one. He’s the first pitcher in history to strikeout 8 batters in an outing of less than 3 innings. Here’s a taste courtesy of the PitchingNinja:
Josh Hader, Insane 83 mph Slider Movement.
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 1, 2018
Yikes--I'm gonna need a wider GIF. pic.twitter.com/iRd8ol2NZ5
- Speaking of nasty, here’s the fastest pitch of the 2018 season (so far):
1️⃣0️⃣2️⃣
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) May 1, 2018
That’s the fastest pitch this season. pic.twitter.com/G84nGLwcrh