For many of the final decade, two issues have been nearly universally true:
The Tampa Bay Rays are relentless, and the Boston Red Sox crumble in opposition to them, particularly at Tropicana Field; coming into Monday’s sequence opener, the Red Sox had been 26-49 in opposition to the Rays for the reason that begin of 2019, their most losses in opposition to any membership throughout that span. They additionally arrived with a 13-game dropping streak on the American League’s southernmost ballpark.
But that was then; that is the Triston Casas period.
On Monday afternoon, the 23-year-old rookie once more put his crew on his again, going 2-for-4 with a go-ahead dwelling run, two runs, and 4 RBI within the Red Sox’s 7-3 come-from-behind victory.
“It was a good overall game,” the always-modest Casas instructed NESN’s Jahmai Webster.
Boston’s 72nd win of the season was a real crew effort, however early on, it regarded like this might be simply one other notch of their dropping streak on the Trop. While Rays starter Aaron Civale mowed down the visiting lineup, Brayan Bello confronted six batters within the backside of the primary inning and put Boston in a direct 3-0 gap.
Civale was excellent by means of the primary three frames and struck out six of the primary eight batters he confronted. Finally, he issued back-to-back 1-out walks to Rafael Devers and Justin Turner within the fourth, and Adam Duvall celebrated his thirty fifth birthday by singling to attain Devers. Not since Carl Yastrzemski turned 44 on August 22, 1983 had a Red Sox participant pushed in a run on their birthday when turning 35 or older.
Civale was in a position to pitch his approach out of the fourth inning with out incurring additional harm. He struck out Masataka Yoshida to strand two Red Sox runners, and obtained proper again all the way down to enterprise with three consecutive strikeouts within the fifth. By the time he departed with one out within the sixth, he’d made it a profession outing; his tenth strikeout of the competition set a brand new single-game season-high, his eleventh matched his career-high, and his twelfth set a brand new benchmark.
“He really had his really good stuff today. I battled with him my first two at-bats,” Casas stated, “But even when we were down 3-1, I liked where we were at in the game. We were getting his pitch count up, we were taking him deep into at-bats.”
“I felt like if we got into their bullpen, it would help us, not only this game, but for the rest of the games,” he added.
Indeed, issues unraveled shortly for the Rays within the prime of the sixth, when Wilyer Abreu led off the inning with a ground-rule double. Civale struck out Devers, then walked Turner for the second time, prompting Rays supervisor Kevin Cash to go to his bullpen.
Casas turned on Chris Devenski’s second pitch, sending the 81.6 mph changeup 419 ft to heart for his twenty third dwelling run of the yr and his crew’s first lead of the sport.
“He has a really unorthodox delivery. I know his changeup is elite, and it has a lot of fade, which, I felt like they were trying to get me to ground into a double play in that at-bat,” Casas defined. “It went pretty far, and gave us the lead, and we didn’t look back.”
The Red Sox had been nonetheless clinging to that slim 4-3 benefit within the prime of the eighth when their nook infielders got here by means of as soon as once more. After main off together with his second stroll of the sport, Devers obtained aggressive: he stole second and superior to 3rd on Turner’s lineout, so when Casas singled to heart, the third baseman scored simply. Fittingly, he’s the primary Red Sox participant 23 or youthful to homer and drive in at the very least 4 RBI in a sport since Devers on August 18, 2019.
Moments later, the Red Sox may breathe considerably simpler, as Masataka Yoshida’s second dwelling run in as many video games put them forward 7-3.
“I was just trying to lift the ball over the infielders, not trying to do too much,” Casas defined, “I’m really happy with how that inning unfolded, especially with Masa coming through.”
Meanwhile, Bello hadn’t let that shaky first inning rattle him; he sat the Rays down 1-2-3 in every of the next 4 frames, then labored round a leadoff double and stroll within the sixth, stranding each baserunners to complete out his day.
“He kept his composure, kept making pitches,” Alex Cora lauded to reporters. “He’s in a good place, he keeps getting better.”
“Tip my cap to Bello,” Casas stated. “Getting us through six, that was huge, and then, you know, that three-headed, four-headed monster, down there in the bullpen, took care of it.”
On Monday afternoon, the “monster” was Josh Winckowski, Chris Martin, and Kenley Jansen, they usually ensured that the Rays wouldn’t rating for the remainder of the day. The trio mixed for 3 excellent innings, together with a pair of strikeouts apiece for Winckowski and Martin. For the second day in a row, Jansen entered in a non-save state of affairs and slammed the door.
Casas has come up clutch too many instances to rely, however Monday was particularly significant: One yr to the day of his Major League debut.
“I actually thought about it earlier today,” the rookie admitted. “I got a little emotional with myself, just behind closed doors, thinking about this last year. Everything that’s unfolded, the strides that I’ve made as a person, as a player, it’s been a really incredible ride.”
Then, as typical, Casas made his large day larger than himself.
“I couldn’t have done it without the help of everybody in those four walls, in my clubhouse,” he stated. “I think we’re all pulling on the same side of the rope, we’re gonna end the year on a high note.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com
