ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Top prospect Willy Adames is only going to get to stay with the Rays for a few days, so good for him for making the most of it with a home run in his first big-league game, and off Red Sox ace Chris Sale no less.
But the good feelings over Adames' arrival couldn't offset the bad news of the night, and that was besides a 4-2 loss to the Red Sox and a Tropicana crowd of just 10,642.
The already starter-short Rays saw Jake Faria walk off the mound in the third inning with what was diagnosed as a left oblique strain, which could keep him sidelined for six to eight weeks. He missed nearly a month last year with an abdominal strain.
The Rays could replace Faria with Nathan Eovaldi, who is set to make a final rehab start today in his return from March 30 arthroscopic elbow surgery. Or they could just turn to Sergio Romo.
Ten pitches after Faria left, catcher Wilson Ramos also was forced out of the game after being hit on the left hand by a pitch from Austin Pruitt, who had replaced Faria and threw seven straight balls. Ramos, though, is considered day to day.
The Rays were very straightforward about their plans for Adames, who was brought up to fill in for the two or three days Joey Wendle is on paternity leave and then return to Triple-A Durham, where he was hitting .311 with four homers, 25 RBIs and an .853 OPS.
"It presents an opportunity for Willy to get up here," Rays manager Kevin Cash said before Tuesday's game. "He's going to play two or three of the next days. I'm not sure how long Joey is going to be gone, but anticipate definitely today and tomorrow, and then we'll kind of see where we go from there.
"And then Willy's going to go back. But saying that, we're excited to have him up here. The clubhouse is excited, the staff's excited, the front office. Everybody is excited. We've talked about this for quite some time. Lot of questions are always asked about Willy because he is such a talented player. And now we're going to get to see him for a couple days come up here and do his thing."
As much as some in the organization wanted to see Willy freed and brought up for good, just getting him to the Trop for a couple days probably required special dispensation from team ownership.
Adames, 22, is in a way too good for his own good.
As a result, he seemed destined to stay bubblewrapped at Triple-A Durham at least until safely past the unofficial early to mid-June cutoff to qualify for an early and additional year of arbitration eligibility. A player with Super 2 status who turns out to be a star could cost a team an additional $10 million to $15 million or more over his career as a result.
Adames, wearing No. 1, arrived shortly before game time, and was in the lineup batting fifth and playing shortstop. He struck out to end the first chasing a 97 mph Sale fastball, but took advantage of a 1-and-0 changeup in the fourth and lofted it into the left-field seats. He ended up 1-for-4 on the night, striking out against Craig Kimbrel with a man on in the ninth. He looked fine in the field, with a hand in three double plays.
Adames became the fifth Rays player to homer in his first big-league game, the first since Brandon Guyer in 2011, and the first to do so at the Trop.
Adames is slated to be in the lineup again Wednesday night, when he'll face _ of all people _ David Price, who was the star attraction in the three-team, five-player trade that brought Adames to the Rays from Detroit in July 2014 as teenager playing A ball.
"It's very exciting," Cash said before the game. "Willy has done nothing but make just positive impressions every time you see him, every time you talk to him. ... He's just got that knack where he can come in and light up a room, light up a clubhouse. And we anticipate he's going to do some special things and light up the field for us. I don't know if he'll do it this go round, but he's a special player that we're very aware of what his capabilities are and we look forward to seeing him help us."
Whenever that is, whether in June, or after a trade of starting and now injured shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, or later, the Rays figure this stint will pay off.
"You'd like to think that any opportunity you get at this level, the reps, the pace of the game _ I think every level you go up starting from A ball, Double A, Triple A, the pace of the game changes. Everybody talks about how much faster it is up here. He's going to see that first hand so he'll be better equipped when he comes back."
The Rays were down early as Mookie Betts hit a three-run homer off Faria, got back to within 3-2 on the Adames homer and a Daniel Robertson sac fly. A Rafael Devers homer off Pruitt in the sixth made it 4-2.
