Rays 1 Red Sox 2: Can anyone get an extra base hit?

All that sweet, sweet offense from last night? Gone.

The Rays eked out a run in the second inning, when Josh Lowe doubled and Taylor Walls, on a mission to get that batting average up to .200, drove him in with a two-out, RBI single. The Rays had other chances, scattering 8 hits (7 of which were singles) and having two men on base several times, including in the bottom of the ninth when they had runners on second and third. But it’s really hard to score on nothing but singles.

But if pitching and defense are your love language, this was still a good game for you.

First, we can take an admiring look at Christopher Morel’s catch with two men on base in the seventh inning. Remember that Morel doesn’t regularly play the outfield and his ability to time this jump is especially impressive. And Drew Rasmussen’s look of relief is priceless.

And then pitching. Pepiot was really sharp. Remember that in his last start he was pulled early because Cash and Snyder thought his velocity was down? Well clearly, or I should say hopefully that was just a blip, because he was on top of his game tonight. Six innings and twelve strikeouts with no walks? Yeah that will play.

Most impressively he managed an immaculate inning the fifth, a rare pitching accomplishment (nine strikes, three strikeouts in a row for those not familiar). At the start of the sixth inning, Trevor Story took one of his fastballs deep, and it was almost as though Pepiot had gotten so enamored of throwing strikes that he forgot to avoid the plate! But Story’s home run was just one of two hits given up by Pepiot so I’m not complaining.

There are two reasons to watch Rays games these last two weeks. One is that it’s a long off season so we need to soak in the innings now. The other is to see what might get us excited for 2025. Strong back to back starts from Baz and Pepiot suggest that the 2025 rotation could, baseball health gods notwithstanding, be a good one. Now if the Rays could just find a few hitters.....