The Rays’ Friday night loss to the Red Sox was frustrating on many levels. It just seemed like one of those games right from the first pitch, and whether it was an inconsistent strike zone, the Sox bullpen outdueling the Rays bullpen, or the fact that Saturday now feels like a must-win, the game as a whole was just less than ideal.
Of course, things might have been very different if the Rays’ ace, Blake Snell, hadn’t decided to do some in-bathroom redecoration and landed himself on the IL this past week. Snell was originally scheduled to start the series against the Sox, and given how he has been pitching in 2019, it’s fair to say the Sox likely wouldn’t have gotten to six runs.