Rays 13, Astros 3: It Was Close Until It Wasn’t

Rays score 10 late off Astros bullpen for 13-3 win.

Is there a reverse 10-run rule that we should maybe talk about?

I mean c’mon. That was a pretty alright ballgame until it became a little bit of a joke. Ryan Gusto allowed a lot of baserunners but only two runs in 3 ²⁄₃ innings, keeping the Astros close enough.

On the other side, Shane Baz mowed through Houston’s order first time through, keeping them hitless until Jeremy Peña’s second time through resulted in a double. Although Peña failed to score, Yainer Díaz (6) got Houston on the board one inning later with a home run.

Later in the inning, Mauricio Dubón singled Cam Smith home to cut TB’s lead to one. Steven Okert struck out two in a perfect sixth, and Jose Altuve (9) got in on the act with a homer to tie the game at three.

And that’s when things got a little out of hand. Bryan King (3-1, 3.38) retired one runner but allowed five runs on five hits. Kaleb Ort put out the seventh-inning fire, but surrendered three runs in the eighth. Forrest Whitley came in to relieve and suffered another two earned runs to his ERA. But at least we got the pleasure of watching Cesar Salazar toss a scoreless inning in his major league pitching debut.

After getting torched in the seventh and the eighth, Salazar relieved — saving the bullpen a valuable inning they’ll likely need. Plus dude was seriously happy. It was a nice genuine moment at the end of a disappointing game. I certainly enjoyed it (most of the game, you can keep the seventh and the eighth). That being said, Houston’s gonna need to take the final three games in the set to win the season series against the Rays.

Box Score

Astros hope for a little payback same time tomorrow night.