Who says you can’t have a marquee pitching matchup in the 4th game of Spring Training? Well that’s exactly what we got as Rays ace, Charlie Morton toed the rubber opposite Orioles all-star starting pitcher, John Means. Everything went right for Tampa Bay against their AL East foe. Rays hitters took advantage of poor command from Baltimore pitching and some wind-aided extra base hits. Brandon Lowe (as in wow) got the offense going as he won the battle of Rookie of the Year Finalists against Means with a leadoff triple in the 2nd inning. Robertson followed it up with an RBI single and Brosseau would also record an RBI single to score Robertson in the same inning. Some other notable offensive performances in today’s contest included those from Rays’ minor leaguers, LaMarre and Cozens. LaMarre had 3 hits including a ground-rule double that he would later score from on a Cozens’ single to center field. The back-up catcher race also started to heat up as Michael Perez launched a 3-run homerun to give the Rays a 10-run lead in the 7th inning.
The Rays’ pitching was stellar as usual as Charlie Morton was his normal self today with one shutout inning and a strikeout on his impressive curveball that was rated the 2nd best breaking ball in the American League last year behind Cy Young winner, Justin Verlander. Beeks and Roe also had solid performances this afternoon as they both recorded 1-2-3 innings in their short outings. Trevor Richards struggled a little bit as he gave up 3 hits including a homerun by Chris Davis that would end up being the first of 2 homeruns by the O’s in Tampa Bay’s 15-2 blowout win.
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