Whee! One in a row.
For the Tampa Bay Rays, the long, empty losing streak has ended. In its place is a smaller, precious little one-game winning streak that came in a 13-7 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
The Rays scored five times in the first and four in the second, then hung on to beat Boston. Oh, the Rays still ended up giving up seven runs, which makes 79 in their last 12 games. But Tampa Bay had a season-high 18 hits and 13 runs in the win.
Five players had three hits for the Rays. They were Logan Forsythe, Evan Longoria, Oswaldo Arcia, Taylor Motter and Nick Franklin. Logan Morrison had two. Franklin had a career-high five RBI.
“Good win,” said manager Kevin Cash. “Needed win. I’m really happy for the guys because I know they’ve been grinding through it. A lot of questions have to be answered when you’re not playing well and I think they’ve handled it admirably.”
Rookie Blake Snell (1-2) got his first major league win in the game. He cruised through the first three innings.
“Then you started to see a little bit of that lack of fastball command sneak back in there,” Cash said “There were some jams he put himself into. It was still a good performance.”
For Snell, the key at-bat could have come in the fifth inning. He walked David Ortiz with the bases loaded, making it 9-3, but Hanley Ramirez had a chance to make it a game. Snell struck him out on four pitches.
“The whole game plan was to be aggressive,” Snell said. “ I knew that I needed to get ahead to put him away. I threw a curveball and got him.”
For the Rays, it was the third-longest losing streak in team history. The Rays hit .222 in the streak, including .148 with runners in scoring position. The Rays starters had been winless in their last 13 starts, and the bullpen had surrendered 29 earned runs in their last 29.2 innings.
The Rays did seem to remember how to celebrate, however. There was music and congratulations.
“We pretty much do the same thing,” Casali said.
Tonight, Chris Archer pitches against Rick Porcello.
