Glasnow paying dividends despite Rays' loss

TORONTO -- Early returns on Tyler Glasnow have continued to impress, as the 24-year-old struck out six over five-plus innings on Sunday.
The 24-year-old left the game after surrendering a leadoff walk to Luke Maile in the sixth inning that eventually came around to score, the only run surrendered by Glasnow in a 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
"Similar strike throwing, this time he had to kind of pitch out of some jams, which was good to see," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Another really really strong performance."

Glasnow got into trouble in the fourth inning, giving up a leadoff single to Devon Travis who quickly stole second, then moved to third on a Justin Smoak groundout. The Rays brought their infield in to hold the one-run lead, but Glasnow got Randal Grichuk swinging on a breaking ball that bounced in the dirt. He then fanned Teoscar Hernández on a 98.7-mph fastball to end the inning.
"When you see Major league hitters like we did today … when they're swinging at 55-foot breaking balls, it's pretty telling how electric his stuff can be," Cash said.

Glasnow threw a season-high 79 pitches, 60.8 percent of them for strikes. His fastball sat at 97.1 mph and maxed out at 99.7 mph on the afternoon. Entering play Sunday, he had the third hardest average fastball for Major League starting pitchers, just behind Luis Severino (97.6) and Noah Syndergaard (97.5).

"I went through the Minor Leagues starting, so going back out there is a familiar feeling," Glasnow said. "I've been feeling good recently, just some physical adjustments and just going out there with some confidence is helping me."
After Willy Adames singled in a run in the fourth, Tampa Bay gave up the lead in the sixth inning when José Alvarado allowed a pinch-hit double to Kevin Pillar and then a single to Travis that scored Maile to tie the game. Then two batters later, Pillar scored the go-ahead run on a fielder's choice from Grichuk.

Alvarado recorded just one out and was followed by Ryne Stanek, who pitched two-thirds of an inning. Then Ryan Yarbrough finished the afternoon.
Marcus Stroman went five innings for the Blue Jays, allowing just one run and five hits, but exited the game early with a developing blister.

"[Stroman] did a nice job of getting some cutters into lefties, we just couldn't make the adjustment," Cash said. "It seemed like he had it going pretty good, then they turned it over to the bullpen and everybody followed suit."
Danny Barnes got into trouble in the seventh inning, but Tyler Clippard shut down the Rays' offense before Ken Giles closed out the game and recorded the save.
MOMENT THAT MATTERED
Rays can't convert in seventh: After a pair of quick outs, Brandon Lowe walked before moving to third on Perez's single. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons yanked Barnes, and Clippard forced Mallex Smith to ground out to second.

MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY
Grichuk hit a dribbler just in front of the plate that Michael Perez corralled and looked off Pillar at third before firing to first base for the second out of the inning. As Perez made the throw, Pillar came charging down for home forcing a play at the plate, but the Blue Jays center fielder slid around Stanek's tag for the go-ahead run. Tampa Bay challenged the play, but the call stood, meaning there was not enough evidence to overturn the call.

"Initially I was thinking about making a fake throw, but looking at the runner going to first base, he was half way down the line already so I decided to make the sure out at first," Perez said through a translator. "I mean it was a good play from Pillar, he had a good read on it, and it was close at the plate."
ROSTER MOVES
The Rays will activate right-hander Chaz Roe from the 10-day disabled list prior to Tuesday's game against the Yankees. Roe has a 3.60 ERA over 35 innings this season. Right-hander Jaime Schultz was optioned to Triple-A Durham following Sunday's game.
SOUND SMART
Adames recorded his third consecutive multihit game, the longest multihit streak of his career. He has hits in each of his last six games and has hit .353 over his last 15 games.
UP NEXT
The Rays head to New York for a three-game series against the Yankees starting Tuesday. Tampa Bay has lost 12 consecutive series at Yankee Stadium, the longest streak ever by any team in the current building, and they have lost the series opener 11 straight series. No starter has been announced for either team.