The Rays won another game and lost another pitcher to injury.
The good news was they overcame a dazzling seven-inning start by Marlins hard-throwing phenom Sixto Sanchez to rally late for a 2-0 victory Friday in Miami.
The bad news _ although, relatively speaking, maybe not horrible _ was that Ryan Yarbrough, who was equally effective in his own crafty way, left in the seventh with what the team said was tightness in his left groin.
The Rays won for the 10th time in their past 12 games, improving to 22-11 and extending their American League East lead to 3 { games over the Yankees, pending the second game of their doubleheader against the Mets late Friday.
Yarbrough's injury added to what already had been an eventful day in Miami as the Rays returned to the field after Thursday's home game with the Orioles was postponed as part of the sportswide acknowledgement of social injustice and systemic racism issues.
Starting catcher Mike Zunino was scratched from the lineup just before game time due to what the team said was left oblique tightness. Then in the middle of the game, the Rays added some lefty relief depth to the injury-depleted bullpen in acquiring lefty Cody Reed from the Reds for minor league pitcher Riley O'Brien.
The rally that produced the first run came together quickly in the eighth.
Austin Meadows singled off reliever Richard Bleier with one out, then moved to second on Brandon Lowe's ground out. The Marlins turned next to Brad Boxberger, the former Rays All-Star. Yandy Diaz swatted his third pitch to left for a single, and Meadows came home easily.
They added another in the ninth when Joey Wendle reached on an infield single, went to second on a groundout and scored on a two-out single by Michael Perez.
Yarbrough had allowed only four hits with no walks and five strikeouts over the first six innings, got two quick outs in the seventh and threw one pitch to the third batter in the seventh, a ball, when manager Kevin Cash and assistant athletic trainer Mark Vinson headed to the mound. After just a few words, Yarbrough walked off the mound, a way-too-familiar sight this season as the Rays already have 10 key pitchers sidelined with arm injuries.
Pete Fairbanks finished the seventh and worked the eighth, then Diego Castillo, eventually, closed it out in the ninth.
The game had been a tremendous pitching duel with a stark contrast in styles between Sanchez and Yarbrough.
Sanchez, the 22-year-old prized prospect making his second big league start, was overpowering, striking out 10 and hitting 100 mph more than a half-dozen times in a 92-pitch showcase. He allowed six hits, all singles, in seven shutout innings.
Yarbrough, working in the 70s and 80s with a tormenting mix of cutters and change-ups, was equally effective.
This was the first of back-to-back weekend meetings with the National League Marlins, and the Rays saw some familiar faces, with five former mates on Miami's active roster (Boxberger, infielder Jesus Aguilar, outfielders Corey Dickerson, Matt Joyce and Jesus Sanchez) and three others on the injured list (pitcher Ryne Stanek, infielders Logan Forsythe and Sean Rodriguez).
