TB 3 - TEX 0: Glas(now) not just half full, but overflowing

This one was quick.

Rays pitching was almost unhittable. Whether it was the tall righty, the prize of the Chris Archer trade, dealing straight fire and filthy 12-6 action breaking balls. Or the Rays bullpen, consistently one of the best in the majors, throwing out tricky lefties like Adam Kolarek, unreal dominant relief ace Jose Alverado, or the wiley vet Sergio Romo with his swiss army knife Slider.

Rangers bats had no chance, looked lost and overwhelmed, and were two infield hits away from being no-hit.

The Future is (Glas)now

Glasnow put on an absolute show tonight, and made the Rangers bats look silly on numerous occasions.

He brought the heat.

He broke off some bendy stuff that had people dancing.

He also was a bit wild at times. Whatever, it’s gonna happen with Glasnow and I think we call all live with that when the rest is just so damn good.

Glasnow was so good, the only two Rangers hits (both weak infield singles) were examples of being fooled badly and barely making contact.

6 IP with 6 K (five of them of the swinging variety), 2 BB, 1 HBP, 2 hits that didn’t total 69 feet combined, and an incredibly well earned first win as a member of the Rays.

Mallex Affecting

Mallex Smith was all over this game. He got things started as quick as he is, slapping a tough grounder that Elvis Andrus had to rush a throw to have any chance at catching Smith. Elvis bounced his throw, allowing Mallex to get a very Mallex Affect style double.

Mallex would score the 1st run after back to back singles from Tommy Pham and Ji-Man Choi (we’ll get to him later).

It wasn’t just at the plate, but in the field where he Affected:

Mallex didn’t seem to find that ball until about a split second before he lept and snared it. Just impressive athleticism as Smith grows by leaps and bounds each game.

He added another hit and a walk later. Mallex just keeps Affecting in 2018.

Ji-Man Keeps He-Man’ing

The offense grew quiet after Ji-Man drove home the first run of the game. It was up to Choi again to re-ignite the Rays bats. The big man was up to the task:

Choi is up to 10 HRs on the year, and has become a downright force in the middle of the order bat.

The Outlaw Rides

Vintage Kiermaier

Closing Thoughts

The Rays having a nice ho-hum easy win, moving to 17 games above .500, is a welcome element of September baseball for these 2018 Rays. The offense wasn’t their best, and let quite a few opportunities go to pass (meat on the bone if you will), but the pitching and defense was there to back them up.

It’s Bumpday tomorrow as Blake Snell goes for win number 20 and to showcase some more for the Cy Young voting.