Tyler Glasnow took the mound for the Tampa Bay Rays in the final series of the season against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Things got started off with a double off the bat of Billy McKinney. Glasnow buckled down getting two strikeouts and a groundout leaving the runner stranded at third base.
The Rays offense started hot with a lined a triple to the left-center field gap off the bat of Mallex Smith. Tommy Pham didn’t waste any time in extending his on base streak to 30 games with walk to put runners on first and third. Joey Wendle lined a double just over the head of the leaping third baseman to score the first run with Pham moving to third base. CJ Cron added a sacrifice fly for the second run of the game. Willy Adames took a liner over the second baseman to score Wendle to give the Rays an early 3-0 lead.
Teoscar Hernandez led off the top of the second with an opposite field homer to cut the lead to 3-1. Glasnow picked up two more strikeouts while working around a two out single.
Glasnow followed with a clean third inning and faced the minimum in the fourth despite walking Hernandez after catching him attempting to steal third base.
Dwight Smith Jr. started off the fifth with a single, but was picked off first base for the first out of the inning. The Blue Jays rallied with a single, walk, and hit by pitch to load the bases with two outs. Glasnow struck out Yangervis Solarte out swinging on a beautiful curve to preserve the 3-1 lead.
— Dominik (@domhunt18) September 29, 2018
With one out in the bottom of the fifth Mallex Smith found himself on first base on an infield single. Smith went on first movement and the Toronto pitcher threw to first. The throw went off the defenders glove scooting into centerfield. Smith goes to third on the play. Pham’s sacrifice fly extended the Rays lead to 4-1.
Glasnow found himself in trouble once again in the sixth inning. Rowdy Tellez led off the inning with a homer to cut the lead to 4-2. After striking out Hernandez for his ninth strikeout of the night and a career high Glasnow’s night would end allowing a single and walk. Adam Kolarek came in relief. Moore dropped a ball, but the ball didn’t roll far enough away for Reese McGuire to successfully move to third base. Richard Urena singled ahead of a two run double by Jon Berti to tie the game at four.
The Rays quickly responded putting runners on first and third after an Adames walk and single off the bat of Austin Meadows. Moore half bunted/half swung at a pitch sending a grounder to the first/second base hole. The second baseman was shifted up the middle and because the catcher was running had time to get the out at first if he fielded it cleanly, but he did not. It was a very heads up play by the minor league veteran. Rays led 5-4.
WATCH: Adam Moore scores @willya02 on a bunt single in the 6th inning to help @RaysBaseball regain the lead 5-4 against the Toronto Blue Jays!
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Chaz Roe came in for the seventh. Kevin Pillar doubled on a grounder past a diving Adames due to the shifted outfield. After Solarte grounded out the Rays brought in Jose Alvarado to face Tellez. Tellez reached on an error by Brandon Lowe on a one hopper to the second baseman. Alvarado then had trouble finding the zone. After walking Hernandez, Randal Grichuk lined a bases clearing triple that reached the right field wall to give the Blue Jays a 7-5 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh the Rays tried to rally after Cron walked and Lowe singled to lead off the inning. However the Rays weren’t able to convert the baserunners into runs.
Vidal Nuno worked a clean eighth.
Moore led off the bottom of the eighth with a homer that landed a few feet to the left of the ray tank. It was his first homer in the majors since 2012. Smith followed with a double off the left field wall, but was left stranded sending the Rays to ninth trailing by one.
Sergio Romo allowed a single in the ninth, but kept the deficit at one.
In the ninth Adames hit a one out single to bring the winning run to the plate. Jake Bauers struck out. Meadows was up 3-0 in the count but sent a weak fly ball just in the foul left field territory to end the game.
There was some good and bad in Glasnow’s outing. He was bitten by the homer and runners looked to take every base they could. He was able to erase two runners on the bases with a pickoff and a caught stealing. Glasnow set a career high with nine strikeouts.
Tomorrow afternoon Blake Snell looks for a strong finish as he looks to win the American League Cy Young Award and pick up his 22nd win of the season.