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Marc Topkin's takeaways from Tuesday's Rays-Orioles game

 
Published July 26, 2017

Rookie RHP Jake Faria had his lucky rubber duck — OG, the original one he has had since high school — with him, and the Rays had nothing to worry about as he put his rocky Wednesday outing well behind him, working into the eighth while scattering seven hits.

Manager Kevin Cash was latching on to an interesting premise after the game, hoping that the intensity needed to win a close game was better for the Rays than rolling to a 5-0 breeze, "that winning a game like that can jolt you and get you on a roll."

Though several of the five straight losses were easy to hang on the bullpen, the absence of the big hit was a common theme. Tim Beckham took care of that, with a three-run homer in the second: "That's what happens when you slow the game down and trust yourself."