TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays opened the season with a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers and outscoring the Tigers 21-3. Their top three starters—at least for the moment, while Tyler Glasnow is recovering from an oblique injury, Shane McClanahan, who made his second straight Opening Day start for the Rays, new acquisition Zach Eflin, and Jeffrey Springs, all had strong starts. At the same time, the Rays’ offense exploded for 12 runs on Saturday.
On the latest Locked On Rays podcast episode, hosts Ulises Sambrano and Kevin Weiss discussed the sweep and focused on those stellar pitching performances.
Sambrano said, “Before anyone comes in and says, ‘It’s the Tigers, man,’ I get that. Because it’s the Tigers, this is exactly what they needed to do.”
And what did they do? Well, after a strong start by McClanahan during Thursday’s opener in which he threw six innings of no-run ball, gave up four hits, walked one, and struck out six, Eflin, who was signed in the offseason by the Rays to the largest free-agent contract they’ve ever given out, lasted five innings, gave up one run on three hits, walked one and struck out five.
Not to be outdone, Springs, showed up to Tropicana Field on Sunday and threw six innings of no-hit ball, walked one, and struck out 12—six looking and six swinging.
Not too shabby. Eflin said about his first start as a Ray, "I felt good throughout the whole outing and it was nice to get some runs on the board and watch those guys go to work.''
And another good thing for the Rays this first month of the season is they’re playing mostly bad teams while they don’t have Tyler Glasnow in the rotation. The only teams they’re facing in the first month who finished with a record over .500 are the Blue Jays and Astros. They’re also facing the Nationals, A’s, Red Sox, Reds, and White Sox (who finished 81-81 in 2022).
Weiss said, “Being able to rack up wins early and maybe not necessarily totally needed Glasnow this first month, the first couple of series is really imperative.” He added, “Jeffrey Springs could be your fourth starter, and on most teams, he could be a really, really solid number two.”
This is a career resurgence for Springs, who struggled with Texas and Boston before heading to Tampa and becoming a starter in 2022. Being in the rotation has revitalized him, and the Rays are reaping the benefits of his emergence as a solid starter. Springs had only two career starts in 2018 before the Rays had him start 25 games in 2022. He threw 135 and one-third innings, struck 144, only walked 31, and finished with a 9-5 record with a 2.46 ERA.
Rays manager Kevin Cash said about Springs, “That was just an outstanding performance. His stuff is probably playing at an all-time high, and he's putting it to use about as good as you can possibly do."
It looks like the Rays are in good shape even while they’re down a starter but doesn’t that always seem to be the way with them over the past half a decade? Yes, it does.
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