Sometimes, it is the bugle-sounder who leads the charge.
Sometimes, it is the guy you least suspect.
Brandon Guyer?
Jake Elmore?
Steve Geltz?
Just between you and me: Who?
It was the faceless ones, the support players, who were the ringleaders as the Tampa Bay Rays broke a small losing streak Wednesday night, beating the Boston Red Sox 7-5 and proving that a team has to rely on all available parts to get to the finish line. Those were the guys who led the party.
Now, if they could just show a little identification.
Oh, you can look to the usual suspects in the Rays’ comeback victory over the Red Sox Wednesday. The middle of the order, for instance, which had all started the season slowly, did its part. Evan Longoria had two hits. Desmond Jennings had two. Asdrubal Cabrera had two. Yes, there were encouraging signs that the big sticks may wake up in a hitless lineup.
But how about the other guys in the team picture?
There was Guyer, whose soft liner with the bases loaded scored two runs to tie the game at 5-5 after the Red Sox had taken a 5-1 lead. Guyer had entered the game hitting all of .214, and your guess is as good as anyone as to why he was hitting there.
There was Elmore, who hit a home run to give the team an insurance run. Elmore had found out he had been called up to the majors the night before after Ryan Brett was hurt. But he hit a home run in the left-center gap and became the 11th Ray to hit a home run in his first plate appearance for the team. (Trivia: Others who have hit a home run in their first at-bat include Rays’ manager Kevin Cash and relief pitcher Estaban Yan.)
There was Geltz, who earned the first save of his career. Most of us would have guessed that Geltz would have pitched in the seventh and Brad Boxberger in the ninth, but Cash flopped those two, and it paid off.
In all, it allowed the last-place Rays to beat the Red Sox to snap their losing streak. Tampa Bay had been one of the worst home teams in the major leagues coming in, and after the Sox scored five runs on their first four hits to take a 5-1 lead, it seemed destined to repeat itself.
But then the dormant Rays’ bats came to life. Who knew?
Cabrera, who entered the game hitting .189, had a single. Longoria, who entered hitting .186, had a single. Jennings, who entered the game hitting .188, had a single. Yep, that’s your meat of the order, loading the bases. Come to think of it, it’s been kind of a vegan middle of the order. Meatless.
Logan Forsyth walked in a run, and then Guyer singled over the outstretched glove of Dustin Pedroia. It was one of those just-enough hits that barely fell on the other side of Pedroia.
“I was just praying he wouldn’t jump up and catch it,” Guyer said. “I was hoping it was going to hit a little turf.”
In the seventh, the Rays got their go-ahead runs as Jennings hit into a double play, then Elmore homered. Elmore was operating on four hours sleep and jet lag, which may be why he said he almost missed first base.
“I knew it wasn’t getting caught,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if it was going over but I knew I got it good enough to at least get it off the wall. I saw the crowd roar and the fan holding the ball. It felt amazing.”
It was a night for the Rays’ unsung heroes, in other words, the other guys. In this sport, that happens. In football, in basketball, one star can get the lion’s share of the attempts. But in baseball, every spot in the lineup usually gets the same 4-5 at bats.
“That’s one of the plus signs about this team,” Geltz said. “We have so much versatility that we can have guys coming up there and making plays for us. It’s nice.”
Geltz, and his fellow members of the bullpen, would qualify for the unsung heroes award. Together, three relievers pitched three innings of one-hit, no-run baseball. In all, the Rays’ bullpen has not allowed a run (and only four hits ) in the last 10 1/3 innings.
The Red Sox are still in first in the AL East, but it’s early. They lead the last-place Rays by two games.
