Tampa Bay Rays: Strong pitching leads to series win

5 of 5

ST. PETERSBURG, FL – MARCH 31: Yonny Chirinos #72 of the Tampa Bay Rays celebrates the end of the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros at Tropicana Field on March 31, 2019 in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images) /

Yonny Chirinos:

7IP, W
1ER
6K/0BB

Kevin Cash decided to send Yonny Chirinos to the mound to face off against Wade Miley and he was rewarded with an absolute gem. No one knew how long Yonny would go, not even Cash and if I had to guess he would have been happy with 4-5 innings. Instead, he got 7 innings of 2 hit baseball.

Yonny relied on his nasty splitter and sinker to silence the bats of Bregman, Altuve, and Correa among others. He was fantastic to say the least and hopefully earned himself another start, even though Kevin Cash didn’t commit to the idea.

Yonny emerged with a win and the respect of Astros manager A.J. Hinch. Tommy Rancel of The Athletic quoted the manager as saying that:

"“He was nasty,” Hinch continued. “I mean, he was just really good. We didn’t see him well at all. We didn’t have a lot of good swings.”"

If it was up to me, Yonny is the newest member of the rotation until he proves he isn’t able to hold down a spot anymore.

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Overall, Rays hitters came through when it mattered most, but the Rays pitching and defense is what put them in a position to win 3 of 4 from the Astros. Over the course of the 4 game series, the starters held the Astros to 9 runs over 23 innings, while the pen held the Astros bats silent the rest away, not allowing a single run to score.