SAN FRANCISCO — On Monday night, Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow made his first start since July 31, and it was a good one.
After missing a couple of turns in the rotation due to back spasms, Glasnow threw six innings of three-hit, one-run ball while walking three and striking out seven en route to a 10-2 Rays’ victory over the San Francisco Giants.
This start was important for both Glasgow and the Rays. Glasnow missed the first two months of the season with an oblique injury, then was sidelined with those back issues for a few weeks, and with the loss of Shane McClanahan for the rest of the regular season, Glasnow’s presence in the Rays rotation is essential.
Ulises Sambrano and Kevin Weiss of Locked On Rays discussed Glasnow’s latest start and the importance of him being back in the rotation down the stretch.
“I’m worried about the state of the pitching of the Rays,” Sambrano said, “And if you’re not, you know, get with the program.”
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He further explained the margin of error right now is zero. If Glasnow were to go down with another injury, Sambrano thinks the team would be doomed.
Instead, Glasnow came out strong and put together a quality start in his first turn back in the rotation. Glasnow had good swing-and-miss stuff on Monday night, and the Giants couldn’t stop swinging. They had 13 swings and misses on the night, and Glasnow was throwing hard. He was above his season average, and according to Baseball Savant, he had the top five pitches in velocity during Monday’s game, topping out at 98.8 MPH.
Glasnow ran into some trouble in the fifth inning. He had already allowed a run to score when Thairo Estrada hit a single that plated Joc Pederson, and the Giants loaded the bases after a walk to Brandon Crawford with only one out. But Glasnow got Johan Camargo to strikeout swinging, and LaMonte Wade Jr. lined out to end the inning and the threat. Glasnow said after the game, “Whenever there's someone in scoring position, you kind of get that extra, like, 'don't-let-them-score' feeling. I just felt like I got into a pretty decent rhythm there, after that strikeout, and I felt like the last two hitters, everything was kind of starting to sync up.”
After opting to give Glasnow a few more days rest instead of rushing him back for an August 6th start against the Tigers, manager Kevin Cash spoke about that decision and the result of holding him back an extra turn, "That's kind of the risk/reward of pushing him back. He's just so good. You don't want to miss any time that we have maybe a glimpse of a chance of him pitching, and he was outstanding tonight.”
It’s safe to say Glasnow is the most critical player for the Tampa Bay Rays right now. They need him to remain healthy down the stretch and keep the rotation intact; otherwise, things could get rough for the team in September and October.
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