Beating Houston Astros Ace Gerrit Cole
Gimme a break … or a three-run homer
When you’re trying to beat a pitcher of Gerrit Cole’s caliber, a bit of good fortune is always handy. The Rays got such a break in the seventh inning, but they failed to take advantage of it.
With Gurriel on first thanks to Adames’ error, Correa rocketed a double down the line. Absent an act of God, the ball would have rolled into the corner, allowing Gurriel to score.
That’s when the ballboy intervened. The young Houston Astros employee assigned to sit down the line, field foul balls and dispense with them, was unable to move his stool out of the way in time to avoid deflecting Correa’s hit, which rolled conveniently to Meadows. He was able to hold Gurriel at third base.
Alas, that intervention had only a temporary impact. As previously noted, Maldonado followed with a base hit of his own that ensured Gurriel’s safe passage home with the second run.
Failing all else, the modern solution of last resort is always the three-run home run. But facing Cole affords few opportunities for such sudden advances, and the Rays failed to take advantage of the only one they got.
In fact, Tampa Bay hitters never put a ball in play against Cole all night at a moment when there was a Rays baserunner.
Their opportunities to do so were sufficiently limited that they can be recounted in full here. In the first, Choi fanned with Pham at first. In the fifth, Kiermaier followed d’Arnaud’s two-out single by striking out. In the sixth, Diaz struck out into that double play. Finally, in the eighth, Adames followed Kiermaier’s double by walking, an event that prompted Cole’s removal.
When Cole left, Diaz faced Roberto Osuna for the first time in a situation when a three-run home run was even a mathematical possibility. He whiffed to end the inning. Grade: F