Osleivis Basabe has found himself in a position to show the Rays front office and coaching staff how well he can perform at the highest level.
After being brought up for what was thought to be just a day or two after Wander Franco was placed on the restricted list due to an MLB investigation, Basabe has gotten an opportunity to play every day at shortstop and has looked to be every bit the player the Rays wanted when they traded Nathaniel Lowe to the Texas Rangers before the 2021 season. And Basabe’s good run continued Tuesday at Tropicana Field, as he blasted his first career home run, a grand slam off Colorado’s Daniel Bard that capped a nine-run bottom of the eighth inning to give Tampa Bay a 12-4 win over the Rockies.
“I thought I was only going to be here maybe for a day, but I’m just taking it day by day because I know that I’m going to be up here for a little while,” Basabe told Bally Sports Sun’s Tricia Whitaker through translator Manny Navarro. “And so whether I’m here five days or ten days, I’m just very happy for the opportunity to be here, and I’m just going to keep on playing and having fun.”
What does it feel like to hit a grand slam for your first MLB home run?
Osleivis Basabe tells @TriciaWhitaker all about it! #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/ZEPzQajfYf
— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) August 23, 2023
Basabe’s time in the majors may be coming to an end before too long, as Taylor Walls is close to returning from an oblique injury that has sidelined him for over a month.
The Rays’ 12-4 win Tuesday was their 14th victory in their last 21 games, and Tampa Bay has now won nine consecutive series openers, and are 6-1-1 in their last eight full series played, having split a two-game series with the Miami Marlins, and only lost a three-game set at home to St. Louis.
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.
