The Rays entered the 9th down 6-4 with Orioles closer Jim Johnson taking the hill going for his 15th save of the season. The sinkerballing Johnson began the 9th per usual, forcing Luke Scott to ground out. But then, however, Johnson got behind Kelly Johnson 3-1 and left a sinker up in the zone, and Johnson didn’t miss it, eliminating the Orioles’ margin for error with a solo home run to make it 6-5 Baltimore. That was only the start of Johnson’s struggles. Johnson walked Jose Lobaton and Yunel Escobar to put the tying run in scoring position and the go-ahead run on base. And after Desmond Jennings singled, Matthew Joyce ended Johnson’s night and ignited the Orioles’ frustration, drilling a go-ahead 2-run double. Ben Zobrist would slam a 2-run double off of Darren O’Day and Scott would draw a bases-loaded walk as the Rays surged for 6 runs in the inning, turning a 6-4 deficit into a 10-6 lead on their way to victory.

Roberto Hernandez was terrible for the Rays in this one, going just 2+ innings allowing 5 runs on 8 hits. Cesar Ramos relieved him in the 3rd and allowed a J.J. Hardy RBI double to plate Hernandez’s final run before letting up another run in the 4th. The Rays simply weren’t getting any pitching at all and on a pitching-dependent team, it seemed sure to cost them. But nobody told that to Matt Joyce. Joyce drilled a 2-run home run in the 3rd as the Rays closed to within 4-3 for a moment and a Joyce RBI double made it 6-4 Orioles in the 5th. The rest of Joyce’s heroics would have to wait until the 9th, and Alex Torres did his part to make sure they would not go for nought. Torres went 4 innings of relief allowing no runs on not a single hit, striking out 3 while walking 2. It could have been prettier but the results could not have been better and for his efforts, Torres got the win in the game when the Rays rallied–and a ticket back to Triple-A after the game. Such is the life of a rookie reliever on a team in a pennant chase, but don’t worry, he’ll be back.

Chaotic game for the Rays in this one, but the superhuman efforts of Joyce and Torres made it all work out in the end. This isn’t the Rays team we’re used to, but between an offense playing as well as it has in a very long time and players stepping up to solidify the pitching staff, it is all working out and the Rays have to hope that these past two wins versus the Orioles can be the start of something. Matt Moore goes for his 8th win against the Orioles’ Chris Tillman at 1:35 on Sunday as the Rays go for the sweep.

Sam Fuld‘s catch was exactly what we’re used to seeing from him. He covered a ton of ground in centerfield and then a perfectly-timed leap to make a remarkable grab. Fuld described his grab after the game.

“It was fun,” Fuld said. “I knew it was going to be close right off the bat. I knew I had a long way to go. … It’s nice to get a good (catch), probably, the first really good one I’ve had all year.”

Teammates were left impressed by yet another incredible play by “The Legend of Sam Fuld,” with Matt Joyce describing the play as “unbelievable.” Speaking of Joyce, his catch was…interesting. It’s always cool to see a basket catch, but his grab was as much of a product of misreading the ball off the bat as it was a great play. Joyce admitted as much.

“I think that’s, for me, my favorite play,” Joyce said. “It’s fun. It kind of reminds you of a football player catching a touchdown in the end zone. The crowd gets into it and enjoys it. Obviously I don’t plan to catch it that way, but it just worked out that way.”

Great to see Fuld deliver again and Joyce get into the act (albeit accidentally), and hopefully more incredible plays are on the way for this Rays defense.

From defense to the other half of the Rays’ gameplan, pitching, much has been made of protecting pitchers recently, especially after what happened to Brandon McCarthy and then J.A. Happ just the other day against the Rays. How should Major League Baseball protect its pitchers? Matt Moore has an idea.

Matt Moore suggested a sensor inside the baseball and one inside the pitcher’s cap that would cause the ball to explode when it came within a certain distance of the pitcher’s head.

That sounds interesting–best way to prevent injuries from the comebackers is to make sure they never get to the mound. However, there are a series of problems with that idea–what would you do if the ball blows up? Automatic single, pickup game style? What if the ball goes over the pitcher’s head and still blows up? Most importantly, wouldn’t that prevent pitchers from raising their hands too far above their shoulders in fear that the ball would blow up? Maybe the sensor in the ball could be triggered by a certain velocity off the bat–but then it might be triggered by just being pitched as well. Sorry Professor Moore, but you’re going to have to keep trying.

In terms of other suggestions, Rays pitchers couldn’t find one that they really liked–helmets were quickly dismissed–but Moore, David Price, and Alex Cobb all said that they would be willing to try something that would make them safer on the mound. From catcher’s equipment to batting helmets, baseball has progressed significantly over the years in terms of safety. Protecting pitchers is the next step, and we’ll have to see exactly how that will happen.

Not necessarily. Despite their nice run of power, the Rays still rank in the lower third of the majors in on base percentage and batting average. These issues have contributed to their continued problems in scoring runs, as the Rays rank 18th. Yet, the home runs, and the recent winning stretch by the Rays, have somewhat masked these apparent problems. Yet, the situation may not be as dire as it would seem. The Rays are tied for tenth in walks, so they are working the count and trying to find ways to get on base. So, where is the problem?

Simply, it appears as though the Rays have having awful luck with the batted ball. The Rays batting average on balls in play is at .273, which is 26th in baseball. Should that revert back to average, then the Rays offense would likely improve, and they may be able to score runs without having to rely as much upon the home run.

Improved health and better play can certainly help. Kelly Johnson and Sean Rodriguez have hit .318 and .417 respectively over the past week. Luke Scott made his 2013 debut last night, and is likely to help the Rays both with power and the ability to get on base, especially in place of Shelley Duncan‘s .182/.297/.309 batting line.

The Rays have had their struggles this year, but there may be light at the end of the tunnel for the offense. Their stretch of prolific power will come to an end, but as long as they remain healthy and their luck with the batted ball normalizes, their offense may end up being better than expected at the start of the season.