SEATTLE -- Drew Rasmussen never takes it for granted when given the opportunity to pitch at T-Mobile Park.
But as the Puyallup, Wash., native prepared to make his fourth career start in his home state, the subtle haze in the horizon around the Puget Sound said much more about this particular start for the Rays’ All-Star.
Friday's 2-1 win over the Mariners carried further significance for Rasmussen, a graduate of Mt. Spokane High School, not far from the wildfires that have torched large parts of northern Spokane, destroyed an estimated 900 structures and forced an evacuation of around 67,000 people since it erupted on Aug. 1.
There’s ones close to Rasmussen that were affected.
“It’s heartbreaking to watch from afar,” he said Wednesday.
Against the struggling Mariners offense, Rasmussen continued his tradition of dominance against the club. Friday, he threw seven scoreless frames, allowing just two hits and two walks along with eight strikeouts.
He rarely ran into trouble, but did evade a bases-loaded jam in the second inning, throwing three straight high heaters -- the latter reaching 97 mph -- to strike out swinging Colt Emerson. That started a run of 16 straight batters retired to end his outing.
And with Friday’s dominance, Rasmussen didn’t need much support from the AL leading Rays, as both Jonny DeLuca and Jonathan Aranda hit solo homers early off Logan Gilbert to give Tampa its fifth win in its last six.
While Rasmussen leaned on his cutter at a 30% rate this season, he threw it only 18 times of his 91 pitches. Instead, he utilized his fastball 45% of the time – up from his season average of 28%.
Since making the All-Star team for the second straight season, the Rays’ ace is 4-0, allowing two runs over 25 innings.
In five career appearances at T-Mobile Park, he’s allowed just one run over 21 2/3 innings.