The Rays’ offense has been led all season by Corey Dickerson and Logan Morrison. Tuesday night both men bolstered their case to be All Stars with big performances. Tampa Bay fell behind 2-0 early, but Dickerson and Morrison both came through with big base hits in the bottom of the 3rd to take the lead back. Dickerson would homer later on to extend the lead. Alex Cobb got plenty of run support in a solid 7 innings of work. Cincinnati would cut the lead to 3 in the 8th inning, but Alex Colome came in to close the door in the 9th. The Rays closer allowed a homerun to Joey Votto and Adam Duvall was driven home after a single to make it a 1-run game. Colome regained his composure and struck out Scott Schebler to escape with a 6-5 victory.
The Rays had a chance to get on the board in the 1st thanks to a 2-out double from Evan Longoria, but Logan Morrison wasn’t able to drive him home. The Reds made the Rays regret not cashing in on that opportunity when they scored in the top of the 2nd. Jose Peraza came through with a 2-out RBI single for the early lead. Alex Cobb was able to get Billy Hamilton to flyout to limit the damage to just the single run.
The defense let Cobb down the very next inning. Corey Dickerson and Peter Bourjos let a deep flyball by Adam Duvall drop between them on the warning track with 2-outs. Duvall was able to advance all the way to 3rd base and then was driven home by Eugenio Suarez to double the lead. The fight in this Rays team would be on full display in their half of the 3rd. Dickerson and Morrison continued with their case to be All Stars with clutch RBI base hits. Dickerson drove in Featherston and Lomo drove in Souza and Dickerson to give Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead.
The hot offense continued for the Rays in the 4th as they chased Reds’ starter, Amir Garrett. Garrett allowed 2 homeruns in a stretch of 3 batters to Jesus Sucre and Dickerson as the Rays’ lead grew to 4.
That would be plenty of support for Cobb. The Rays’ starter got through 7 innings, allowing 8 hits and striking out 6 with just those 2 runs on the board. Tommy Hunter came in to pitch the 8th and the Reds were able to cut into the lead. Tucker Barnhart came through with a 2-out triple that made it a 3-run game. Alex Colome came in for the save in the 9th. Joey Votto and Adam Duvall made it interesting with a homerun and a double to eventually make it a 6-5 game. Colome came back and struck out Scott Schebler to hold on to the victory.
The Rays will close out this series against Cincinnati Reds with an afternoon affair on Wednesday. Erasmo Ramirez will take the hill opposed by Tim Adelman. 1st pitch from the Trop is scheduled for 12:10 with pregame coverage starting at 11:30 right here on 620 WDAE.