Tampa Bay Rays set franchise record by striking out 19 Braves

The Tampa Bay Rays bats put up 14 runs against the Atlanta Braves on Monday night, but the pitching deserves a little attention too.

The Tampa Bay Rays bats were the talk of the town as they put up 14 runs on the Braves, including two homers by Hunter Renfroe. The pitching staff deserves a little love as well as they set a club record, combining for 19 strikeouts of the defending NL East Champions.

Most of the highlights show a seemingly endless blue streak of Rays jerseys rounding the bases, but Tyler Glasnow looked fantastic after just two simulated starts following his bout with COVID-19.

He came out firing, hitting 100 mph in the first inning last night. His curveball was 83 and violent. Glasnow struck out nine hitters in four innings on 72 pitches. He walked two and did throw 27 balls, but the Braves couldn’t hit him outside of Dansby Swanson’s lone home run.

The strikeouts didn’t stop there as Diego Castillo took over in the fifth and notched two more Ks. Jalen Beeks went three innings after that and got seven guys out via the strikeout. Jose Alvarado pitched a scoreless ninth and added the record-setting 19th strikeout.

Tampa Bay Rays – Takeaways

Glasnow’s stuff was electric and his 72 pitches were a good sign. The Braves are a team that is having severe issues with swinging and missing right now and this Rays staff is well-equipped to bury them in their struggles.

Ronald Acuna Jr. already has 11 strikeouts in just 19 at-bats this season, hitting just .158. He added three more strikeouts last night with two of them coming off of Glasnow.

The first two batters (Acuna and Albies) in the Braves lineup are both hitting .158.

The first-place Rays will send Yonny Chirinos to the mound tonight against Braves’ prospect Kyle Wright at 6:40 p.m ET. They look to improve their record to 4-1 and maintain their lead in the AL East.