Through his first three starts of the season, Steven Matz is making the 2- year, $15M deal he signed with the Rays this offseason look like quite the steal. The 34-year-old southpaw took the mound for the third time this season and left with this third win. This time, Matz held the dangerous Yankees lineup to just two runs over five innings. He allowed only two hits, struck out seven, and walked two.
Across 16 innings pitched this year, he has struck out 17, allowed just 10 hits, and walked five. He has pitched to a sub 4.00 ERA and sub 1.00 WHIP.
Tonight, he kept the Yankees lineup off balance throwing as many changeups as he did fastballs. Matz worked around a sloppy first inning in which two runs crossed the plate and gave the Yankees an early 2-0 lead. Early on it appeared we were in for more of the same bad baseball we saw in the final two games of the previous series. Judge stole second and advanced to third on a rare error by Walls on the throw down to second. Later in the inning Chandler Simpson misplayed a line drive to left and turned a single into an RBI triple.
Nonetheless, the new look Rays lineup featuring Simpson at the top and Yandy hitting cleanup, had an answer. A two out walk to Aranda issued by Yankees starter Luis Gil brought Yandy to the plate with a chance to tie the game with one swing of the bat. He did just that launching a two-run opposite field blast to tie the game at 2-2 in the first.
The Rays quickly grabbed their first lead of the game the next inning as Taylor Walls scored on a Chandler Simpson ground ball fielder’s choice. Walls was hit by a pitch earlier in the inning and had advance to third on a Fortes single. The 3-2 lead would hold until the bottom of the sixth when the Rays added two more runs. Williamson started the inning with a leadoff double and Walls reached a sac bunt that the Yankees pitcher Brent Headrick couldn’t handle. With one out, Simpson jumped on the first pitch he saw and lined it into center scoring Williamson. Walls eventually scored on a ground out by Aranda. After six innings, the Rays held a 5-2 lead.
The Rays bullpen was solid tonight as they pieced together four innings of one run baseball. The one run came against Hunter Bigge in the eighth as Ben Rice hit a solo shot to center bringing the Yankees to within a bloop and a blast.
Bryan Baker didn’t make it easy on himself in the top of the ninth, but worked around back-to-back singles to lead off the inning and earned his second save of the season. With the tying run standing on second base, Baker struck out Grichuk and retired the pinch-hitting Grisham via a pop fly to seal the deal.
Jax, Seymour, Bigge, and Baker struck out five over four innings of work and allowed just one run on three hits.
Luis Gil took the loss in his season debut while Matz moved to 3-0. The win moved the Rays to just one game shy of .500 (6-7) as they look to even their record and secure a series win on Saturday evening with Nick Martinez on the mound. Max Fired will take the ball for the Yankees and look to maintain his strong start.
