SEATTLE -- Drew Rasmussen began his August by stonewalling the Dodgers’ high-powered lineup. Friday, he struck for an encore, reaching six innings for the first time since June 8 in the Rays’ 3-2 loss to the Mariners.
Rasmussen allowed four hits -- all singles -- walked none and struck out four on 79 pitches at T-Mobile Park.
“We always emphasize throwing Strike 1 and then having the ability to sprint to two strikes and expand from there,” the right-hander said. “I think recently, I’ve done a good job of attacking the big parts of the zone early and then being able to expand once we get to two strikes.”
It was another strong night close to home for the Puyallup, Wash., native, who played his college ball at Oregon State. In four appearances at T-Mobile Park since his debut in 2020, Rasmussen has allowed one earned run and struck out 15 in 14 2/3 innings, and he has a 0.43 ERA against the Mariners.
“He was outstanding,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Really, really navigated his fastball well. Used his cutter well. Really happy for Rass. I know this is a special place for him and he wanted to pitch well, and he did.”
Rasmussen, who went at least five frames in 15 of his first 16 starts of the season after returning to the bullpen, only did so once in four July starts. After coming out of that June 8 appearance with a 2.22 ERA, he had allowed 16 earned runs in 31 1/3 innings (eight starts).
August, though, has started on a much better note, with 11 1/3 scoreless frames across two longer starts.
“To be able to go out there and compete and help our team be as competitive as possible, that’s all you ask for,” Rasmussen said. “To be able to do my job and get stretched back out, it’s been great recently.”
Friday night was Rasmussen’s league-leading 11th outing of five innings or more with no extra-base hits allowed. In his past five starts, he’s allowed just two extra-base hits -- both doubles -- and he hasn’t given up a home run since July 6.
“He’s got good stuff that doesn’t get barreled up very often,” Cash answered simply when asked what has made Rasmussen so good at limiting extra-base knocks.
That answer is a bit of an understatement. Among starters with at least 110 innings thrown this year, Rasmussen’s 17 barreled-up balls allowed are the least in the American League, and tied with the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto for best in baseball.
Brandon Lowe gave Rasmussen an early lead by taking advantage of a mulligan in the top of the first inning, after hitting a deep fly ball into the right-field corner on a 2-2 changeup from Luis Castillo. Seattle right fielder Dominic Canzone leapt into foul territory and looked like he’d caught the ball bare-handed off a bobble -- Lowe said that’s what he thought had happened -- but after review, the umpires ruled that the ball had hit the wall in foul territory first.
“The way I swung and the way it came off, I knew he probably wasn’t going to attack me with that again,” Lowe said.
Instead, he got a fastball at the letters and belted it into the right-field bleachers for his 21st home run of the season.
Junior Caminero made it 2-0 in the top of the sixth with a towering fly ball that snuck just inside the left-field foul pole, his third homer in the past two games.
It all came apart in a swing, though, when Griffin Jax allowed a go-ahead three-run home run to Cal Raleigh in the bottom of the eighth, just after he’d retired an old friend, Randy Arozarena.
“They put together some big at-bats against Griffin,” Cash said. “Then the wrong guy came up to the plate. Cal Raleigh, he’s put together just a really special season. We’d seen it from afar in the first half, and he got us tonight.”