Three Up, Three Down: Week Four
After a week at Tropicana Field, the Rays return to the road, and this time they remembered their bats. Let’s look at the good and slightly less good of Week 4 of the Major League season.
Three Up
1. Road Warriors
After not even showing up during the first road trip of the season, Tampa Bay brought the thunder to Tropicana North Fenway Park, scoring a team record 42 runs over a four-game series and winning all four games against the Boston Red Sox. They followed that up by taking two of three from the Toronto Blue Jays in Buffalo, NY, home of Toronto’s triple-A team. The Rays finished the week leading Major League Baseball in hits, doubles, runs, and RBIs. They also ranked second in batting average, stolen bases, and home runs (four-way tie).
2. Brosseau It Margots
Mike Brosseau and Manuel Margot took advantage of their limited time in the lineup to combine for a .586 batting average, four RBIs, and eight runs scored. Brosseau even recorded his first career strikeout as a pitcher when he caught Randal Grichuk looking in the eighth inning of a 12-4 loss to the Blue Jays.
3. Join The Lowe Train, Lowe Train
To put it bluntly, Brandon Lowe was the best player in baseball last week, according to FanGraphs. The Rays’ 2B/OF hit a blistering .448 with a 1.500 OPS, four home runs, 10 RBIs, and 10 runs scored. This earned the American League Player of the Week award for the first time in his career.
Three Down
1. Lagging Behind In The Arms Race
While the bats came alive during the road trip, Tampa Bay pitchers were less than stellar last week. They weren’t the worst out there, as the team finished third in MLB with 60 strikeouts, but a 5.90 ERA and 11 home runs allowed were good for 22nd and tied for 21st, respectively.
2. Like A Bullpen A China Shop
A major contributor to Tampa Bay’s subpar pitching performance was the relief corps. Rays relievers averaged five innings a game with an ERA of 6.69 and gave up seven homers in seven games.
3. Better Batter Bureau Complaint
As good as the Rays were on offense last week, they also led the league in two negative categories that have plagued them all season: strikeouts and double plays. Tampa Bay batters averaged nearly 10 strikeouts and over one double play per game.
All stats courtesy of FanGraphs and Baseball Reference.
