Advertisement

Roger Mooney's takeaways from Sunday's Rays-Astros game

 
Published April 24, 2017

The Rays are among the top-scoring teams in the majors, but they are still the Rays, as they proved Sunday when they batted around and scored four times in the first inning then managed two hits over the next nine in a 10-inning loss to the Astros.

The starting pitchers have to go deeper into games. These short outings are placing a burden on an injury-weakened bullpen. We saw what happened last year when the bullpen was gassed from overwork.

Three weeks is a small sample, but RF Steven Souza Jr. is living up to the expectations that followed him when he was traded to the Rays. His seven-game hitting streak is a career best, and his 17 RBIs this month are the most for any month of his career.