The Rays center fielder tracked Machado’s blast and scaled the wall to rob the Orioles shortstop of a lead-off homer in the bottom of the first inning Monday night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Chris Davis has hit only one of his 35 homers in the last 15 games for Baltimore, which is 7-5 against Tampa Bay in 2015.
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Buck Showalter shuffled the lineup and put Manny Machado at shortstop in an effort to bring the Baltimore Orioles out of a slump that’s almost obliterated their playoff hopes. The right-hander allowed four hits but escaped trouble in three frames. Logan Forsythe (.281, 57 Rs, 15 HRs, 53 RBIs, 9 SBs) has been successful at the plate for the Rays, going 3 for 4 yesterday with two runs.
But the biggest story was Machado, arguably the best third baseman in the game, returning to shortstop for his first start there since August 8, 2012 at Double-A Bowie, the day before he was called up to join the Orioles. “I was just happy to make the catch and not let them start the game off with (a homer)”.
Brad Boxberger, the third Rays reliever, worked the ninth for his 33rd save.
Longoria then followed with his homer to make it 5-0. We’ll see what happens.
The third catcher, Steve Clevenger, who has usually played at designated hitter with the team this season, played there and banged out a two-run single.
A two-run single by Clevenger highlighted a three-run seventh against Matt Andriese.
Archer finished the fourth inning at 92 pitches, but he finally found himself in the last two innings as he faced the minimum six Orioles with the help of a double play.
Orioles: Pitching prospect Dylan Bundy has been cleared by Dr. James Andrews to start a throwing program. The left is 8-6 with a 3.17 ERA in 25 starts this season, current Rays are hitting.
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Instead, the Rays grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second when Forsythe tripled and scored on Beckham’s one-out sacrifice fly. The strong candidate for a Gold Glove award had done it once this year, denying Prince Fielder in Texas last month, and was still bedeviled by a near miss earlier in Chicago.
