ST. PETERSBURG -- The last time Drew Rasmussen took the mound, he held the Marlins to just one baserunner and struck out nine over seven scoreless innings. He was arguably as good as he’s ever been in a Major League uniform.
What did he have in mind for an encore? A strong candidate for the most dominant start of his career.
Rasmussen racked up a career-high 13 strikeouts while cruising through seven scoreless innings in the Rays’ 7-5 win over the Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon at Tropicana Field, capping a much-needed sweep for Tampa Bay.
The Rays have won each of their first 12 home games against American League East opponents, becoming only the fifth team in MLB’s Divisional Era (since 1969) to start 12-0 at home against division rivals. The Rays improved to 24-9 at home overall and 40-25 on the season.
Rasmussen was untouchable from the start, striking out each of the first four batters he faced. Leaning mostly on his three fastballs, specifically his four-seamer and cutter in the early going, he faced the minimum 12 batters and struck out eight while throwing only 44 pitches in his first four innings. By that point, he had generated 14 swinging strikes, matching his season-high mark.
Rasmussen finished the day with 20 whiffs overall, tied for the second most in his career behind the 22 he produced against the Yankees on Sept. 9, 2022. He allowed only four baserunners on Wednesday: two singles, a walk and a hit batter.
He finished two strikeouts shy of matching the franchise record of 15 set by James Shields (Oct. 2, 2012) and matched by Chris Archer (June 2, 2015). It was the Rays’ first 13-strikeout performance since Tyler Glasnow fanned 14 in six innings against the Red Sox on Sept. 6, 2023.
Rasmussen was especially dominant against the top of the reeling Red Sox order, as Boston’s first three hitters -- Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu -- went a combined 0-for-9 with nine strikeouts against him. They became the first trio of starters in the top three spots in a batting order to each strike out their first three plate appearances since at least 1900, per Elias.
Rasmussen incorporated his two-seamer and changeup more often as the game went on, and he wound up finishing strikeouts with four types of pitches: his four-seamer (five), cutter (five), two-seamer (two) and changeup (one).
The Rays gave Rasmussen a five-run lead thanks in large part to his batterymate, Nick Fortes, who went 4-for-4 with three runs. Fortes doubled in the third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Taylor Walls, sparked a three-run fifth with another leadoff double, then singled and scored on a Yandy Díaz hit in the sixth.
Tampa Bay’s bullpen let Boston pull within a run in the eighth, when Caleb Durbin homered against Cole Sulser and Rafaela took Steven Matz deep. But after a one-out single by Fortes, Cedric Mullins gave the Rays some breathing room by launching his sixth homer of the season out to right field.