ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Maybe the Rays added another starting pitcher after all.
Reliever Drew Rasmussen made a second straight impressive start, and a good pitch to stay in the rotation, in Tuesday’s 10-0 win over the Orioles.
Home runs by Mike Zunino and Nelson Cruz seemed to be the headline news. Zunino went deep for the fifth straight game and a personal-best 26th time this season, and Cruz had two, Nos. 442 and 443 of his career to move past Dave Kingman for 42nd place all time. Randy Arozarena added four hits.
An announced crowd of just 4,795 set a new low from Monday’s gathering as the smallest ever for a Rays game at Tropicana Field without COVID-19-related restrictions on capacity. Monday’s 5,460 lowered the previous mark of 5,786 from May 28, 2019.
But the bigger development for the Rays was the work of Rasmussen, who could turn out to be the boost to the rotation that they didn’t make, among limited options and high prices, at the trade deadline.
Granted, Rasmussen, 26, only went four innings again Tuesday, as he did in his first official start Thursday in Boston — having served twice previously as an opener — allowing one hit both times. He threw only 56 pitches Tuesday, a total that will need to be built up. And he has to show how he can handle the recovery between starts, acknowledging he was “a little more sore than normal.”
But he worked as a starter while working his way through three levels in the Brewers’ system in his 2019 pro debut, and at the alternate site camp in 2020 before being called up and working in relief.
Between his two strong starts, and a solid rehab outing by Chris Archer on Tuesday at Triple-A Durham, the Rays may have some reinforcements for their struggling staff, and some options for the struggling Michael Wacha and inconsistent Josh Fleming. Plus, they are getting Ryan Yarbrough back from the COVID-19 injured list to pitch Wednesday.
Asked before Tuesday’s game if the Rays could see Rasmussen staying in the rotation, manager Kevin Cash said: “I think we could. We’ve got a lot of stuff we’re going to learn probably in the next two weeks, with Arch coming back, with Yarbs coming back. ... We could learn a lot of things and then go from there.”
One thing they already know is how to beat the Orioles, doing so for the 13th time in 14 games this season, improving their American League-best record to 73-47 and expanding their East division lead over the Red Sox to 4 1/2 games, with the surging Yankees at 5 1/2.
