Rays Get to Tanner Houck Early, Cruise to 16-1 Blowout Win in Series Opener
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TAMPA, Fla. — No, we won't go there. We won't purposely use Boston and massacre in the same sentence. But it certainly could have applied with how Monday night's game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox played out.
The Rays' bats exploded for 16 runs and 16 hits — including a season-high nine runs in the third inning — and cruised to an easy 16-1 win in the first game of a three-game series at Steinbrenner Field. The 15-run margin of victory tied a franchise record — it had been done twice before, in 2014 and 2007 — and the 14 runs scored in the first three innings was a team record.
"We just put a lot of continued pressure on them and kept hitting the ball hard and didn't expand. That was really a complete day offensively, obviously, one of the biggest innings since I've been here.'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "We've got a bunch of guys here recently that are seeing the ball well and getting a lot of good swings at the ball. There were a lot of impressive at-bats and guys continue to barrel up.''
Houck has typically been tough on the Rays recently. He started three times against them last year, and allowed just two earned runs over 16.2 innings.
But the Rays jumped all over him Monday night, and right from the get-go. Houck's first pitch of the game was to designated hitter Yandy Diaz, and he promptly smacked it 415 feet over the center-field wall.
Tampa Bay hung a four-spot in the second inning, taking advantage of a couple of infield hits. Christopher Morel had the first one, and then three pitches later, Kameron Misner hit a long home run to center. The 431-foot blast made it 3-0.
Taylor Walls then walked and Jake Mangum beat out an infield hit. Brandon Lowe brought them both in with a single to left to push the lead to 5-0.
The Rays blew the game open in the third inning with a bunch of seeing-eye singles, chasing Houck after facing eight batters in the inning and getting just one out. The Rays scored a season-high nine runs in the inning, and Houck wound up being charged with a career-worst12 runs, 11 of them earned.
It was the most runs scored in an inning by any MLB team this season.
Michael Fulmer came in and gave up three hits and a walk before finally getting the final two outs. The Rays sent 14 batters to the plate in the inning, also a season high.
The Rays got their 15th run in the fifth inning on a Junior Caminero homer. It was his fourth dinger of the season, and his third in three days. Misner hit another homer in the eighth, a solo shot. It was only the second time in franchise history that all nine starters scored a run and also drove at least one hit.
Misner had three RBIs and five others — Diaz, Lowe, Caminero, Aranda and Morel — all had two.
Baz certainly appreciated all the run support, but he didn't really need it. He allowed just one run in six innings — a Khristian Campbell homer in the third — and struck out a career-high 11 to raise his record to 2-0. In his two home starts, he now has 18 strikeouts — and no walks.
"I'm just blessed that I get to go out there and keep doing it,'' said Baz, who's now 2-0 with a 1.42 earned run average after three starts. "When you have that lead to work with from the start, it makes it a lot easier to attack hitters and throw all your stuff in the zone. I was happier about the no walks, to be honest with you.''
The two teams meet again on Tuesday night at Steinbrenner Field. Ryan Pepiot (1-1, 3.38 ERA) will start for the Rays (8-8), and will face big free-agent signee Walker Buehler, who's 1-1 so far with a 5.74 ERA for the Red Sox (8-10). The game starts at 7:05 p.m. ET.
They'll wrap up the series with another 7:05 p.m. ET game on Wednesday. Zack Littell and Sean Newcomb are the projected starters.
Tom Brew is the publisher of ''Tampa Bay Rays on SI'' and has been with the Sports Illustrated platform since 2019. He has worked at some of America's finest newspapers, including the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He owns eight sites on the "On SI'' network and has written four books.
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