MLB Final Score/Recap: Tampa Bay Rays 9, Cleveland Indians 2. The Rays win a game that ended eight hours after it began.

May 31/June 1, 2013

Tampa Bay 9, Indians 2

Game 54

This game was supposed to start, and the starting pitchers were Matt Moore, who has been one of the best pitchers in the American League, and Corey Kluber, who has been pitching very well as of later. The two starters only ended up throwing 2.5 innings between them, as rain at first delayed the start, then delayed the action once the game actually began. After several quick stops and starts in the first couple of innings, the game was delayed for more than two hours, taking both starters out of the game. Normally I think the game would have just been postponed and played as part of a doubleheader either Saturday (today) or Sunday, but the weather forecast for the rest of the week wasn't going to get any better, so the umpires and stadium crew took extraordinary efforts to get the game in. So what originally would have been a near-sellout featuring an intriguing pitching matchup turned into a game that re-started after midnight with MAYBE 5,000 people left in the park and featuring the front ends of both clubs' bullpens.

Tampa, who came into play rather short-handed in relief, trotted out former Tribe pitcher Jamey Wright after the delay, while the Indians countered with Scott Barnes. Wright would go three scoreless innings, while Barnes would allow five runs in his only inning work. That pretty much was the game.

The Tribe offense managed just one hit, a Ryan Raburn RBI double in the sixth inning. Both of the Indians runs came in that inning, and both were unearned thanks to an Evan Longoria error earlier in the frame. The Rays front end of the bullpen (Wright, Josh Lueke, and Cesar Ramons) not only saved the back end of the bullpen for tonight by shutting down the opposition, but also saved the Tampa Bay bullpen for the next two nights. Meanwhile, the Indians may need to add an extra arm for tomorrow's game, as they needed to use five relievers to get through seven innings. Rich Hill, who pitched the ninth, struggled even against left-handed batters, and if he can't get left-handed batters, then he's not going to be used in high-leverage situations at all.

The Indians and Rays will play again in ten hours., essentially making the first two games of the series a morning-day doubleheader.

Source: FanGraphs

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