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Rays' all-left lineup works out just right in 11-1 win

With his team struggling, manager Kevin Cash decides to try something different, and it works with a rout of the Red Sox.
 
The Rays' Nate Lowe celebrates his three-run homer off Red Sox relief pitcher Robinson Leyer during the seventh inning Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, at Tropicana Field. Kevin Kiermaier greets Lowe at home plate.
The Rays' Nate Lowe celebrates his three-run homer off Red Sox relief pitcher Robinson Leyer during the seventh inning Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, at Tropicana Field. Kevin Kiermaier greets Lowe at home plate. [ CHRIS O'MEARA | AP ]
Published Sept. 12, 2020|Updated Sept. 12, 2020

ST. PETERSBURG — With his Rays mired in an extended offensive slump that resulted in their first losing streak in more than a month, manager Kevin Cash and his coaches decided to try some things different Friday.

One was canceling pregame batting practice, changing up the routine and giving the players a couple of extra hours to relax at home.

The other was more extreme, assembling the first lineup in modern major-league history, going back to at least 1901, with nine left-handed hitters (and none being switch-hitters, which had happened 133 times).

“Not every day you see it,” Cash said. “We’re just fairly unique, we recognize that.”

One, the other, both, or something worked as the Rays halted their three-game losing streak with an 11-1 win over the Red Sox.

The 11 runs were the Rays’ most in a game since Aug. 30 and more than they scored in their previous three losses combined.

"We got all nine guys in there and had a good time with it,'' said Nate Lowe, who led the offensive outburst with two home runs.

With the win, the Rays improved to 29-16, expanded their American League East lead to 4½ games with the Blue Jays’ 18-1 loss to the Mets, and moved closer to clinching a playoff spot as the Orioles were swept in a doubleheader by the Yankees.

More immediately beneficial to Tampa Bay, there were a lot of hands involved, with hits from throughout the lineup.

Before Nate Lowe’s dual blasts, Yoshi Tsutsugo hit one in the second inning to get them started and later added an RBI single. Austin Meadows, who had been the coldest of them all, lashed a two-run double. Kevin Kiermaier knocked in one run and scored another. Brandon Lowe had his first multihit game since Aug. 15. Joey Wendle scored twice. Seven of the starting nine had hits, seven scored, five had RBIs.

"A lot of people contributed, certainly highlighted by Nate’s two home runs,'' Cash said. "Just a lot of good at-bats. That was very encouraging. And something we can hopefully continue to build off of. ...

"Even the guys who didn’t get hits, they had good swings. We were picking each other up. We did little things to put ourselves in good counts, and when those counts came, we did some damage.''

Left-hander Blake Snell gave the Rays a solid start, scattering five hits with two walks and five strikeouts, but he pitched himself out of the game in the sixth, having thrown 103 pitches to get 16 outs.

"The walks, I’m frustrated with them, because that’s just me,'' Snell said. "A lot of wasted pitches, probably the most I’ve thrown in a while, to where they were just uncompetitive. ... The fastball command has been frustrating for me.''

Pete Fairbanks got a double-play grounder to get the Rays out of the sixth, then was followed by John Curtiss, Ryan Sherriff and Aaron Loup, who lost the shutout in the ninth.

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Part of the reason the Rays (who had used eight lefties previously) built the lineup the way they did was the profile of Sox right-handed starter Andrew Triggs, who was clearly more vulnerable to lefty hitters. But when he had to leave after the first inning due to a pinched nerve in his neck, the Sox, understandably, brought in a lefty, Matt Hall.

And, go figure, that’s when the Rays got going. Tsutsugo hit his seventh homer to open the second. They added a run in the third with two singles, a double steal and a productive out by Kiermaier, and two in the fourth on the double by Meadows, who was 3-for-his-last 32.

"I guess there is some irony to that,'' Cash said. "But we also thought, wait him out. We weren’t sure how long Hall was going to go, but they’ve got a bunch of righties to follow him, and it worked in our favor after that.''

Nate Lowe, who came in 1-for-14 since his Sept. 1 callup, took it from there. He opened the sixth with his first homer of the season, then followed with a three-run blast in the seventh. It was the second two-homer game of his brief major-league career.

"We know Nate, he’s got a chance to really do some damage when he steps into the batter’s box,'' Cash said. "As much as anything, it’s finding consistent reps for him. We recognize that. Today he got a couple of pitches he could handle, and he didn’t miss them. We’d love to see him go ahead and get hot. We’ll take anybody getting hot right now. Hopefully the rest of the guys will follow suit.''

Even though it worked, Cash said they won’t be going all-left again on Saturday.

“No,'' he laughed. "Willy (Adames, their right-handed-hitting shortstop) wouldn’t be happy.''