I think the game took a turn from that point. They have dropped the first two games of their weekend series at Tropicana Field and are now tied for the division lead with the heavy hitting Boston Red Sox.
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Who could have? It had been 704 days since Cobb last pitched in a big-league game, after all, and after compiling an 0-3 record and 6.65 ERA in eight minor-league rehab starts, the best the Rays could really hope for was that Cobb walk away from his return healthy and encouraged.
“If he’s seeing the ball good, which I thought he was, I gave the approval for him to take a whack at it”, said bench coach DeMarlo Hale, who filled in for Gibbons. He needed a whopping 85-pitches to get the eight outs. The rookie righthander allowed four hits, struck out six and walked four in seven innings.
“That was huge that the bullpen was able to keep us in the game”, said Happ. Then Tampa Bay lost a bullpen battle to Toronto. He hasn’t allowed a run in 16 appearances and 15 1/3 innings since joining the Blue Jays. Brad Boxberger followed and surrendered a single to Michael Saunders and a walk to Kevin Pillar before Travis snuck a groundball through the left side to push across a pair and tie the game.
Archer allowed two runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings. He also struck out nine, running his AL-best total to 211.
“I guess you could imagine it, ” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of the rock-like foundation Cobb poured out for the Rays during what proved to be an 8-3 Rays win. The Blue Jays had the call reviewed because they thought it could have been a home run, but the ruling stood and Donaldson remained on second base. In the end, the Rays held onto their lead and it was a home team victory as the Blue Jays fell 7-5 to Tampa.
Rays: Despite the ability to expand rosters in September, Tampa Bay still had just three position players on the bench on Sunday: C Luke Maile, 1B Logan Morrison and utilityman Nick Franklin.
“I’m happy with it, ” Cobb said of the outing.
Blue Jays: Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (9-13) and Yankees RHP Masahiro Tanaka (11-4) are Monday’s starters in the first of a three-game set in NY. San Francisco, trying to catch Los Angeles in the NL West, rebounded from a pair of one-run losses in the first two games of the four-game set against the major league leaders.
Russell Martin hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning to help the Toronto Blue Jays overcome a poor start by 17-game victor J.A. Happ and avoid a three-game sweep by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 on Sunday.
The Rays enter Sunday’s series finale hoping for their second three-game sweep of the Jays this season – they’re 9-6 against Toronto and with one more win, can clinch the season series for the eighth time in nine years. Bobby Wilson, Logan Forsythe, Kevin Kiermaier and Evan Longoria opened the inning with consecutive singles.
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As big of a pain in the, umm, tail-feather the Tampa Bay Rays have been this season for the Toronto Blue Jays, they’ve so far managed to more than make up for it by beating up on the New York Yankees.
