Colin Rea shows he's a viable option in Cubs' rotation in a win over Rays
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What were the highlights of the Cubs' win against the Rays?
Thank you for joining us. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. We're happy to have you on a nice day in the city and an eventful day here when it comes to The Score. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody. We have a lot to discuss and we have to start with what we saw yesterday. Hear me out. The Cubs took two of three. They won a series. beating the Rays 6-2 and doing so with star power that was originally unlikely sources. Number one, take a victory lap for Colin Ray and everybody who was team Colin Ray when it came to trusting him.
Oh, wait, that's me. Yep, run around. I told y'all, Colin Ray can pitch. He's a viable option, not over the course of a season for 30-plus starts, but as a swing guy, he's one of the top swing options, if not the top swing option, in the major leagues.
And Colin Ray wasn't the only one. But wait, there's more. Who also helped out in this series taking two games? That would be Javier Asad. Ten and two-thirds inning out of them. One earned run. Slow clap.
And more than that, it was... More than just the fact that it was just the one run, how about three hits total, all singles? All singles! That's all you're giving up, which maybe speaks a little bit to where Tampa is right now and their process is...
Tampa going into this series, though, was, and I don't know how much you care when it's 10 days into the season, Tampa going into this series as a team hitting for batting average was fifth in Major League Baseball.
That's much lower now, isn't it?
But that's the difference that three games can make. However, it's a good sign. We saw the Cubs hit for two straight games. We saw them put together big innings, which is something that will usually result in successful games themselves. And they brought people home. There were productive outs.
How did Colin Ray perform in the game against the Rays?
The last two games were what you wanted to see. I think it does help that they were in a dome at Tropicana Field, which was newly renovated. And I feel like this was... a positive in the right directions. And by the way, you get reinforcements on Friday. Seiya! Seiya Suzuki comes on Friday. That is still looking to be online. And he had a good rehab assignment at AA in Knoxville. So this all seems to be headed in a better direction. What a difference a series can make. But you got to win them, though. And for them to take two or three against a team that wasn't exactly a slouch. I think says a lot. They hit like you wanted to see. Now, are there still some issues in the heart of the lineup? Sure. But the point is enough people are hitting.
Nico Horner, Nico Homer to start the game. He was three for five on the day. And I like him in that leadoff spot, too. So I was happy to see the starting pitching do enough. Five innings these days is a happy count, you know, so it's not the traditional six at least, but I was glad to see Javier Assad and Colin Ray put those performances together, step up when asked, be consistent when we saw them, and then see what happened offensively with the lineup that we had. It was Horner, Bush, Bregman, Peeker, Armstrong.
Who else contributed to the Cubs' success in this series?
Carson Kelly, who again continues to hit well so far, two for four on the day. Moises Ballesteros, Dansby Swanson, Michael Conforto, and then Matt Shaw. So in the process of trying to see how you put this together and how you make it work, I think that that was a nice building block.
No, I think this is pretty much what a standard operating procedure should look like when you have either Javier Assad or Colin Ray on the mound. I remember when the Cade Horton news came out that he's out for the season, will undergo elbow surgery. I told y'all. I'm not worried about the Cubs necessarily making the playoffs. The division might be something that's going to be a lot more interesting now without your bona fide ace. It's more of understanding what you need to make a playoff run once you get to the playoffs, and you've got to have guys who throw zeros. Fortunate that one of these two replacements threw zeros. Don't expect that every time out, but I feel like they can keep opposing teams at bay well enough to have the Cubs in these games and having a fighting chance of winning most of the games that they start between Assad and Ray.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What were the highlights of the Cubs' win against the Rays?
0:00–2:06
2
How did Colin Ray perform in the game against the Rays?
2:06–3:28
3
Who else contributed to the Cubs' success in this series?
3:28–7:32
4
What does the Cubs' recent hitting performance indicate?
7:32–9:06
5
What impact does Seiya Suzuki's return have on the Cubs?
9:06–11:20
6
How are the Cubs' pitching strategies evolving this season?
11:20–14:11
7
What are the implications of Cade Horton’s injury for the Cubs?
14:11–15:30
Speakers
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