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Rays defeat Royals thanks to pitching and replay

The Rays' pitching staff extends its scoreless streak to 23 innings. An overturned call in the second inning proves to be the difference.
 
Published Aug. 21, 2018

ST. PETERSBURG — That the Rays defeated the Royals 1-0 on Monday night — Tampa Bay's major-league-leading 51st one-run game — is not surprising. What is a bit unusual is how they did it.

With two outs and runners on first and third in the second inning, Willy Adames hit a deep grounder to third base. Sprinting to first, Adames looked like he may have beaten the throw, but he was called out. The Rays challenged the call, and 43 seconds later it was overturned.

The reversal meant that the run scored by Joey Wendle from third counted. And it turned out two hours later that it also meant that it was the winning run in front of an announced crowd of 10,030 at Tropicana Field.

"Generally the run you score in the second doesn't define the game,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "It's pretty unusual. It just showed how we had to play seven innings of perfect baseball after that.''

Though replay deserves some of the credit, it was the pitching staff of the Rays (64-61) that once again earned the win.

Hunter Wood was the designated opener and played his role to near perfection. He lasted 1 2/3 innings before giving way to Ryan Yarbrough with a man on second and Seminole's Brett Phillips at the plate. Yarbrough struck out Phillips to end that threat and lasted through the seventh inning without giving up a run.

Ryne Stanek pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Jose Alvarado earned the save by getting two strikeouts and a groundout to end the game. Rays pitching has not allowed a run in 23 consecutive innings.

"Sometimes you've got to win 1-0,'' Cash said. "The guys did a good job of pitching. We didn't have any margin for error. 'Yarbs' led the way with how efficient he was. He's putting together a really impressive first season in the big leagues.''

Yarbrough was indeed in control. The only time he got into real trouble was the fourth inning. Salvador Perez led off with a double, and Lucas Duda walked to put two on with no outs. But Yarbrough struck out Jorge Bonifacio, Ryan O'Hearn and Rosell Herrera to end the inning.

"I was fine with the double because I made a good pitch,'' Yarbrough said. "It's not ideal to walk the next guy. But I had to bear down from there and get to work. I had to attack the strike zone.''

The Royals got six hits against Rays pitching. They were unable to get a runner to third base. Aside from the fourth inning, they got a runner to second only once more, with one out in the eighth. But Perez hit into an inning-ending double play to end that threat.

The Rays got eight hits against four Royals pitchers. They got five hits in five innings against starter Jorge Lopez, none bigger than Adames' infield single.

Adames got his chance when Wendle reached first on a fielder's choice with two outs. Kevin Kiermaier, who was 3-for-4, singled Wendle to third. Adames then hit his grounder to O'Hearn at third.

"As soon as I hit it, I was running hard because I knew that I had a chance to beat it,'' Adames said. "As soon as I hit the base, you can hear it, I touched the base before he caught the ball. I knew I was there.''

The Rays have played seven straight one-run games at home. They are the first team in the live-ball era (from 1920) to record consecutive shutouts with their starting pitcher going two innings or fewer in both games.

They will start a bona fide starter in Blake Snell against the Royals tonight. Snell hasn't given up a run in his past 10 innings.

"If they keep pitching like that, we are going to win a lot of games,'' Adames said.