It only took seven days, but the Tampa Bay Rays were finally able to shake hands at the end of a spring game.
As they honored bullpen catcher Jean Ramirez, who died in January, Brandon Lowe came through with five runs batted in, including a grand slam, as the Rays earned their first Grapefruit League victory with a 9-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles Friday at Charlotte Sports Park.
Making his first appearance of the spring, left-hander Josh Fleming worked a perfect first inning, finishing with a strikeout of Tyler Nevin.
Baltimore took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second off reliever Ryan Thompson, who gave up a base hit to Kyle Slowers, then walked Robinson Chirinos. Ryan McKenny moved Slowers to third with a flyout, and when Thompson’s pickoff throw went wild, Slowers would scamper home to make it 1-0.
Tampa Bay took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning, as Orioles starter Chris Ellis gave up singles to Yandy Diaz and Manuel Margot as well as a walk to Taylor Walls. Francisco mejia popped out for the second out of the inning, but Lowe picked up his teammate with a blast to right for his first home run of the spring.
Lowe added his fifth RBI two innings later against Pablo Lopez, following another walk to Walls and a double by Mejia with a base hit to right that drove in the third baseman to make it 5-1. Wander Franco‘s sacrifice fly scored Mejia to make it 6-1, and after a wild pitch moved Lowe to third, Randy Arozarena‘s double made the lead six runs.
Mejia added an RBI single in the fifth off Joey Krehbiel, and and Ford Proctor‘s RBI double in the seventh against Logan Gillaspie gave Tampa Bay a ninth run.
Along with Fleming’s start, the Rays also got scoreless outings Friday from Calvin Faucher, Dusten Knight, Adrian De Horta and Seth Blair.
Tampa Bay now has a chance to make it two wins in a row for the first time this spring Saturday, heading to Fort Myers for another matchup with the Boston Red Sox. Corey Kluber will make his first appearance of the spring, starting the game against former Ray Michael Wacha. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05.
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
