I was initially going to call this “Bouncy Castle Blues,” because that’s what Tropicana Field reminds me of as much as anything. With its synthetic fabric top, and its weirdly springy turf, and the fact that try as we might we never seem to play competent baseball there, it seems fitting. But that would have led me to Google Images and then probably an extended session of foolishness with Photoshop, and I realized I really wanted nothing more than to get this recap done as soon as possible, because it wasn’t a fun baseball game to watch, even with the always pleasant company in the Game Day Thread. And rays are basically fish, right? They live in water and they swim around in it, anyway. Whatever.
Young Jose Cabrera was making his second start of his young major league career, and I was kind of excited to see that, because I must admit I slept through the early innings of his debut last Sunday. And you know what, the kid looked pretty good, even though his final pitching line doesn’t quite reflect that.
We also staked him a lead before he’d even taken the mound, thanks to a one-out Geraldo Perdomo double off the top of the wall in right center that just missed being a home run, followed by a Corbin Carroll single to right that drove him in. Carroll was then promptly thrown out trying to steal second, and Gabriel Moreno grounded out to third to end things against Tampa opener (and former Diamondback, apparently) Cole Sulser. 1-0 DBACKS
Sadly, Cabrera gave that run right back in the bottom of the first. After retiring Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda without any drama at all, he allowed a 2-1 sinker to catch a little too much of the plate, and Junior Caminero launched it over the fence in the left field corner for his third first-inning home run in as many games. 1-1 Tie
And there things stood until the bottom of the fifth, as Cabrera settled down and put up zeroes in the next three innings, while the Diamondbacks offense could do nothing whatsoever against Sulser (who pitched the second inning as well) or former Doyer Michael Grove (who pitched three scoreless with no blemishes other than a Moreno single in the fourth). Cabrera retired the last two batters in the Rays’ order to start the fifth, flipping the lineup back to the top, where their big bats live. And they did big bat things, alas: Diaz drew a 7-pitch two-out walk, and threw Aranda a sweeper on the inside that Aranda turned on and sent into the right field seats. 3-1 Tampa
Young Jose Cabrera was making his second start of his young major league career, and I was kind of excited to see that, because I must admit I slept through the early innings of his debut last Sunday. And you know what, the kid looked pretty good, even though his final pitching line doesn’t quite reflect that.
We also staked him a lead before he’d even taken the mound, thanks to a one-out Geraldo Perdomo double off the top of the wall in right center that just missed being a home run, followed by a Corbin Carroll single to right that drove him in. Carroll was then promptly thrown out trying to steal second, and Gabriel Moreno grounded out to third to end things against Tampa opener (and former Diamondback, apparently) Cole Sulser. 1-0 DBACKS
Sadly, Cabrera gave that run right back in the bottom of the first. After retiring Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda without any drama at all, he allowed a 2-1 sinker to catch a little too much of the plate, and Junior Caminero launched it over the fence in the left field corner for his third first-inning home run in as many games. 1-1 Tie
And there things stood until the bottom of the fifth, as Cabrera settled down and put up zeroes in the next three innings, while the Diamondbacks offense could do nothing whatsoever against Sulser (who pitched the second inning as well) or former Doyer Michael Grove (who pitched three scoreless with no blemishes other than a Moreno single in the fourth). Cabrera retired the last two batters in the Rays’ order to start the fifth, flipping the lineup back to the top, where their big bats live. And they did big bat things, alas: Diaz drew a 7-pitch two-out walk, and threw Aranda a sweeper on the inside that Aranda turned on and sent into the right field seats. 3-1 Tampa
2 months ago
