The Rays returned to their spring training home in Port Charlotte after two straight road games. They faced off against their AL East opponent, the Toronto Blue Jays this afternoon. Tampa hitters executed early on as they took advantage of 3 walks and a Hunter Renfroe single to right field to take a 2-0 lead in the 1st. The Toronto starting pitcher, Anthony Kay, would exit the game after throwing just 1/3rd of an inning. Kevin Kiermaier greeted the new Blue Jays’ pitcher with a 2-run opposite field double extending the lead to 4-0. The marathon bottom of the 1st totaled 10 batters, 5 walks, and just 2 hits. The Rays got another run on a dropped infield pop-up hit by Brandon Lowe in the 2nd inning. The Tampa offense exploded in the 6th inning after Ryan LaMarre started it all with a bases loaded walk. Randy Arozarena and Lucius Fox followed with singles that scored a total of 3 runs. Arozarena is now 7 for 11 on the spring so far as he continues to impress.
Tyler Glasnow started this game on the mound for Tampa Bay. He hoped to maintain his perfect 0.00 ERA this spring. His ERA last season was an impressive 1.78 with an opponent batting average of .186. He stayed his course today as he hurled 1 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball including 3 strikeouts and only 2 hits. He consistently filled up the zone today as he threw 27 strikes out of his 38 pitches. Trevor Richards would only need one pitch to enduce a groundball and finish Glasnow’s job in the 2nd inning. Trevor Richards struggled with his command in the 3rd inning as he walked 2 Blue Jays and gave up 3 hits including a 3-run triple to the Orlando product, Bo Bichette. Richards finished his day throwing one inning which involved a pitch count totaling 32 pitches. Diego Castillo tossed a perfect top of the 4th as he didn’t give up a baserunner and threw just 7 pitches; all of which were strikes. After the rough 4-run 3rd inning, the pitching staff settled in well as they only allowed one more Jays’ run the rest of the game and struck out 10 in the process. A plethora of walks and hit-by-pitches by the Toronto squad helped the Rays take this March meeting by a score of 9-5 giving them their 7th win of the spring.
Tampa Bay Rays Reviews 