“Down goes Soler” as the Tampa Bay Rays end skid

The Tampa Bay Rays ended their 4 game skid Monday night with a 6-3 victory over the visiting Kansas City Royals.

Firstly, apologies for the prolonged silence from the Rays Colored Glasses writers. As college students and athletes we have been quite busy and while we have been following the Tampa Bay Rays very closely, we have not ben able to make time to write about them… until tonight!

The Tampa Bay Rays ended their 4 game skid which included a 3 game sweep at the hands of the Boston Red Sox Monday night with a comeback victory against the Kansas City Royals. Yonny Chirinos delivered a much-needed 6 inning start which positioned the Rays to strike and eventually take the lead in the latter third of the game.

A beleaguered bullpen combined for 3 scoreless innings and a save without having to go to Diego Castillo or Jose Alvarado. Emilio Pagan earned the save with a 1-2-3 9th inning while Chaz Roe, Wilmer Font, and Adam Kolarek held the Royals to the three runs Yonny surrendered.

On offense, the Rays trailed early (after a first inning KC bomb) but evened the score in the first with a Yandy Diaz sacrifice fly which drove in Tommy Pham. The Royals would tack on runs via the long ball in the 5th and 6th innings giving them a 3-1 lead. The Rays would draw within one after Willy Adames reached and scored on a Brandon Lowe double.

The big moment, though, came by way of Mike Zunino’s first long-ball in a Rays uniform. The 7th inning, two run shot to dead center put the Rays up 5 to 3. Yandy Diaz would get in on the fun the following inning with an opposite field blast providing the Emilio Pagan with a 3 run cushion.

The final score was 6-3 as the Rays tallied 6 runs on 8 hits while the Royals scored their 3 runs on 6 hits. Wilmer Font left with his first win of the young season as Emilio Pagan earned his first save of the season. Adam Kolarek earned his 6th hold of the season.

Brad Keller, who gave up 5 of the 6 runs left with his second loss of the season (2-2).

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For the Rays, they ended their 4 game skid and gave Diego Castillo and Jose Alvarado some much-needed rest. Mike Zunino started right where he left off while Daniel Robertson continued to drive in key runs after his slow start to 2019.

Title courtesy of the fantastic Rays Radio broadcast crew who repeatedly used the phrase, “Down goes Soler” during tonight’s broadcast.