Rays Vs. Athletics: Rays Win 10-8 As Desmond Jennings Drives in Four

I was this close to turning off the game in the first inning. Wade Davis was only one out into the game, but had already thrown 36 pitches and allowed five runs, and i was ready to call it quits. After staying up late to watch the Rays roll over and die for three nights in a row, I was finished and done with the Rays.

Well, I’m glad I didn’t.

After that disastrous 0.1 innings, Wade Davis went out to throw a masterpiece: 5.2 IP, no hits, no walks, and six strikeouts. He looked like an entirely different pitcher than we’ve seen this year. He was pumping his fastball up to 95 MPH when needed. He was mixing in his curveball (19%) and slider (11%) way more than he has at any other point this year. And he was getting the Athletics to swing and miss on pitches, generating a total of 10 on the night.

I know I should probably be disappointed that Davis let up five runs in this start, but honestly, I could care less. He’s alive! It’s so incredibly refreshing to see this Wade Davis again — you know, the one that is actually a good pitcher. It’s taken him 19 games and 100+ innings to finally show up, but here he is. Now let’s hope he sticks around.

But not only did Wade Davis pitch well: the Rays’ offense actually decided to show up. The Rays inched closer on Desmond Jennings’ two-run homerun in the sixth inning — the first homerun of his career — and then the Rays burst out of the floodgates, scoring seven runs in the seventh inning. Desmond Jennings had the go-ahead hit, driving in two runners on a single with the bases loaded, and then the Rays tacked on some insurance runs from there. 

Game Notes:

• Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton both hit homeruns today. It was great to see both of them get a hold of one, considering they’ve both been slumping recently. Upton also ripped two deep fly balls earlier in the game, but the A’s outfielders BABIP’d him on both of them.
• The Rays’ bullpen tried hard to lose the game, with McGee, Peralta, and Farnsworth each allowing a run in the late innings. But hey, for once the Rays’ offense could wasn’t going to allow that to happen.

James Shields could not buy an out. Shields (L, 9-9) cruised pretty easily through the first inning, got saved on an excellent Sam Fuld throw to home in the second inning, got tagged for a run in the third, and then lost a football game in the fourth.

James Shields' fourth inning went like this: Walk. Single. Sac bunt. Triple. Walk. Single. Fly out. Homer. Double. Single. Homer. Strike out.

It was a murderous inning. All told, the Oakland A's had a 10 to 0 score and an easily-predicted win by the top of the fifth.

This, of course, does not mean James Shields has gone completely kaput, that his season is ruined, or that his strong first half was an illusion. Indeed, his strong first half had been partially a product of good luck, so hopefully Shields has balanced all that luck out in one go 'round, rather than being unlucky in several games over the final stretch.

Meanwhile, as the Rays watched their ace melt into puddle of despair, the A's starter Trevor Cahill (W, 9-9) whatever'd his way to a win, pitching 7 and 1/3 of scoreless, non-explosive, boring, efficient baseball.

Notables from the game:

• Desmond Jennings, playing center field for the first time this season, made a nice sliding grab on a line drive late in the game. He did, however, look a little iffy going back on balls hit deep -- iffy at least when compared to deep ball master-thief, B.J. Upton.
• Rather than do something exciting like ask Sam Fuld to pitch, Rays manager Joe Maddon elected to have recently recalled Rob Delaney and Brandon Gomes pitch the final four frames. Delaney went three innings and allowed as many runs; Gomes pitched a quiet eighth.
• In the bottom of the ninth inning, with nearly half starting Rays player pulled or moved around, the Rays scored four runs, two of which came on an impressive home run from Matt Joyce, who worked a 1-2 count full and then blasted a dinger into right.