Rays’ Rotation Dominates Royals In Shutout Sweep
KANSAS CITY, MO. – Shane Baz went eight innings for the first time in his career Thursday afternoon in Kansas City, serving as an exclamation point to the effort of the starting rotation in the Rays’ three-game sweep of the Royals. A 4-0 win made for a 12-1 advantage in the series, and brought the Rays to within a half game of the first-place Yankees in the American League East.
Baz’s effort completed a visit to Kauffman Stadium in which the starting pitchers did not allow a run in 19 2/3 innings. Taj Bradley went 6 2/3 innings in Tuesday evening’s series opener, and Drew Rasmussen threw five innings Wednesday night.
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“I think it speaks to our ceiling and what we can do,” said Baz, who improved to 8-3 and lowered his ERA to 4.37, to FanDuel Sports Network Sun reporter, Ryan Bass. “When (Bradley and Rasmussen) set the tone the first two games, I think it helped me. It’s a good group that kind of holds each other accountable and makes each other better.”
When considering the last three innings of Zack Littell’s outing against Detroit at Steinbrenner Field last Sunday, the rotation heads into a weekend series in Baltimore with a scoreless streak of 22 2/3 innings. In the larger picture that is the last turn through the rotation commencing with Ryan Pepiot’s outing versus the Tigers last Saturday through Baz’s performance, the Rays’ quintet of righthanded starters has allowed two runs, both earned, in the last 30 2/3 innings.
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In smothering the Royals, Bradley, Rasmussen, and Baz combined to yield all of seven hits in their 19 2/3 innings. The trio fanned 18 batters while walking only four. For the record, Baz’s previous long outing was 7 2/3 innings at Oakland last August.
The Rays, who have won 25 of their last 34 to improve to 46-35, will have Pepiot (5-6, 3.04) on the mound Friday night (7:05) against the Orioles, who will counter with Tomoyuki Sugano (5-4, 3.55).
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