Rays Take 2 Out Of 3 Against Jays

Garza Gets His First Loss

The first game of the series was a rocky one with Matt Garza experiencing his first bad start of the year. He has only allowed four runs in his first 3 starts but gave up 4 runs in the first inning against the Jays, recording his first loss of the season. Garza  lasted 5 innings and gave up one more run in the game as the Jays hit him hard throughout the game. He came into the game with a 0.75 ERA and left the game with a 2.17 ERA. “I’ve had good stuff against these guys, and tonight, they came out and they just looked hungrier than I did,” Garza said. “They just had a mission on their faces that said they weren’t going to let me do what I’ve done against them in the past. Right now, you just tip your cap to them. But that’s today, and I’ve got six days to get it right.”  I wouldn’t worry about him at all, he is our ace and is too critical of himself  not to gain his command back and pitch like he did in his previous outings. A comeback was almost in tact but fell short losing by one run, 5-6.

8th Inning Rally

In game 2 of the series, the Rays had a late inning rally to come back and win after trailing 3-2 going into the bottom of the 8th. The Blue Jays bullpen took over for Ricky Romero,  until he got taken out, had a decent game against the Rays lineup. Big mistake for the Jays because they would end up facing 11 batters in the bottom of the 8th and tallying up a total of 7 earned runs in the inning. Offensively, we kept grinding, kept grinding, kept grinding, and eventually we got all those runs,” manager Joe Maddon said. “[We had] some really good at-bats when it was really critical.” This was a critical time for the Rays to get a comfortable lead and not take two losses in a row against a team that is right behind them and the Yankees. The Rays would end up winning this game 9-3.

What Is The Price For A Complete Game?

Well, let David Price tell you as he threw his first complete game as a major league pitcher and  did it with dominance. Price struck out nine batters and only walked one batter. This will usually happen when almost 71% of your pitches are for strikes. This is just astonishing to me for a guy who has trouble finding his spots from time to time. Not only did he go the whole game he also got a shutout. “I’ve always believed when a young pitcher can throw a complete-game shutout, it does do something for their confidence,” Maddon said. “And to do it with a minimal number of pitches like that it’s really good also. … It’s always about confidence.” Price has a 2.20 ERA and a 3-1 record.

The Rays had another strong bottom of the 8th, giving them a more relaxing lead when the score was just 2-0. They scored 4 runs in the inning and doing so without any homeruns which is very rare for this Rays team. Although I like seeing the long balls being hit to score the runs, its also nice to know that its not the only way they can score more than a few runs. The Rays would get the win 6-0.

On another note. John Jaso fits in very well in the lineup. Jaso went 3-7 hitting his first homerun and drove in 5 RBI’s in this series. With Navarro a little banged up and Shoppach on the DL, Im comfortable with him at the plate as well as behind the plate.