Here's What Rays Manager Kevin Cash Said After Opening Day Shutout Win Over Tigers
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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Just about everything went right for the Tampa Bay Rays on Opening Day on Thursday. They beat the Detroit Tigers 4-0 thanks to six scoreless innings from starter Shane McClanahan, and got plenty of great defensive help and timely hits.
"It was a very 'Rays-like' win,'' Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. "We'll sign up for those types of wins a lot."
Here's what Cash said when he met with the media after the game:
— on Shane McClanahan's solid start
''He was really good. I thought he threw a couple of errant fastballs up, but you would expect that on Opening Day. But he was able to harness it and get it back in the zone and made a lot of really good quality pitches and gave us a start that we will never complain about. Six innings, no runs, we'll sign up for it every night.
— on offensive production
"Look, (Eduardo) Rodriguez threw a good ballgame for them. Siri got us on the board and then I liked how we kind of pieced together that inning between Randy and Isaac's hits. Guys got on base at the right time and then Wander at the end there, that was pretty impressive. He chose the deepest part of the ballpark to hit a home run.''
— on Manuel Margot's run-saving catch
''Healthy. He looks healthy. Before he got injured, that's what he did. I looked back at Kyle and he said 'I've seen him make a lot of game-saving catches.' That would have been multiple runs right there. The closing speed on that right there, it was certainly the play of the day.
— on winning 'the Rays' way
"That's what we worked on all spring. All. those right there. Certainly, the starting pitching sets the tone and Mac did that. It took us a little bit to get going offensively, but I have a lot of confidence in this group that we're going to get some guys on base and we're going to come up with some big hits.. We're going to play pretty clean baseball behind our pitchers.
— on team depth
"There were a lot of really good at-bats. Early on, you never know what you're going to get on Opening Day. I think Saturday we'll see some guys settle in on both teams. You see some early swings, maybe expanding a little bit more just because they are overly amped up. After that first time through the order they looked more like themselves and we were pushing together big at-bats
— on Jose Siri's power potential
"When we acquired him last year, a lot of people talked about his power. We saw a little bit of it, but I don't think we saw the power that he's seen throughout his career. I would expect with some good at-bats and the work that he's put in, we might see him run into a couple of more balls. He laid off some tough pitches. I was encouraged because he laid off a couple of tough pitches. I know he struck out one or two times, but he'll make the adjustment on those pitches in the zone.
— on Luke Raley's first big hit
"It was good. You want to see a guy transition from a great spring to be big opportunity met on Opening Day or whenever he got his chance and he did. He came up and opened up the game for us, and made us 3-0 at that point.
— on atmosphere of Opening Day
"That was a pretty good game. Marc (Topkin) said it best. It was a very Rays-like win. We'll sign up for those types of wins a lot.''
— on Randy Arozarena's personality
"It's a lot of fun to watch Randy. I mean, he's got the left field fans going crazy out there. Just the personality and the character, and t he way he embraces his role on this team and in this community a little bit in how this fan base has grown to love him. He's a really good player and he's a good guy to have in the clubhouse. He can express himself in the right way.
— on bullpen's success
"It kind of lined up pretty well with Colin (Poche), Jason (Adam) and Pete (Fairbanks). I don;'t know if I saw Jason Adam pitch this spring. Just on TV for Team USA. It was good to see him back in the Rays uniform pitching.''
— on Opening Day scene
"I thought our fans were tremendous. It was loud. I thought everybody that planned the entrances. That gets the guys hyped up a lot. They did a good job with that the videos looked good. Our new scoreboard looked good, and all in all, it was a fun day to be a part of.''
