Openers don't get much uglier than this...
The Rays took it on the chin to start the season. It looked good for an inning after
Adley Rutschman singled in a run and
Tyler Glasnow had a quick 1st. But Glasnow was ineffective after that and was gone by the 3rd inning as the A's teed off on him.
Andrew Greckel was 0-3 in his big league debut but it was a tough assignment against the lefty Luzardo, who was clearly on tonight.
Tampa Bay turned the tables in the second game, getting a dominant
Dustin May outing in an 8-0 win. The righty went 7 4 0 0 1 5 in his season debut and had quite a bit of offensive support with a 2-run
Adley Rutschman double in the 1st, an RBI double from
Austin Meadows in the 3rd (he later drove in another) and a 2-run homer from
Andrew Greckel, the rookie's first big-league hit.
Brandon Lowe later added a 2-run homer of his own.
Things were going swimmingly in the finale, until they suddenly weren't as a 3-0 Rays lead in the 6th inning escalated quickly into a 10-4 loss.
Vidal Brujan had a big 2-run single and
Tarik Skubal rolled through 5, but he allowed 3 straight hits to start the 6th with a run in. Enter
JT Ginn in his Rays debut and it turned into a debacle as he gave up an RBI double and a 3-run homer to Ramon Laureano and it was quickly 5-3 Oakland. Ginn put two more on in the 7th and so it was time for
Levi Kelly to make his Rays debut and it went just as badly as Ginn's as he put a couple more on and gave up a grand slam to Matt Chapman, and that's how quickly it turned into a rout.
Carter Kieboom had a consolation homer, a solo shot, in the 9th. To add injury to insult,
Andrew Greckel strained his oblique in that 6th inning and had to leave. He'll be out 5 days and go on the IL while we activate
Jarren Duran from the restricted list.
Team record: 1-2. Next up: We open our home slate against the team that knocked us out of the playoffs last season, the Angels.