ST. PETERSBURG -- Shortly after his most recent start in Baltimore on Aug. 6, Rays left-hander Ryan Yarbrough tested positive for a breakthrough case of COVID-19. He had immediate concerns: shaking the symptoms he felt for a few days, finding a way to safely drive home and, above all, making sure his pregnant wife, Nicole, was healthy.
As soon as all that was taken care of and he felt good enough to resume throwing into a net at home, Yarbrough decided to use the remaining downtime to his advantage. He spent eight days on the COVID-19 Related IL and went 11 days between outings, and he took much of that time to evaluate the way he’d been pitching -- and how he could get better.
Yarbrough put a lot of those thoughts into action in his return to the mound, firing five scoreless innings in the Rays’ 8-4 win over the Orioles at Tropicana Field, Tampa Bay’s third straight victory. Pitching after opener Louis Head, the lefty allowed only one hit, didn’t walk a batter, struck out three and needed only 70 pitches to get through his outing.
“It was, in a way, a good way to be able to sit and really look back on what wasn't working for me and what was, and I felt like I was able to implement that,” Yarbrough said. “I'm just going to try to build off of it and really just try to get some momentum rolling.”
Yarbrough’s effort helped the Rays improve to 74-47 on the year, a season-high 27 games over .500, and maintain their five-game lead in the American League East. They have won 10 of their last 13 games and 21 of 31 since the All-Star break. And they continued to capitalize against the Orioles, whose losing streak reached 14 games on Wednesday. Not only has Tampa Bay won 14 of 15 against Baltimore this season; the Rays have outscored them, 121-55, in those matchups.
The Rays didn’t officially provide an explanation for Yarbrough’s placement on the COVID IL on Aug. 10, four days after his last outing, but he revealed after Wednesday’s game that he tested positive in Baltimore despite being fully vaccinated. He asked to be tested, believing he might have had a head cold, only to learn that he had COVID-19.
“I feel like it hit me a little bit for a couple days, but I feel like I bounced back really fast,” Yarbrough said. “So I feel like that was the biggest thing, just trying to get a lot of rest, get a lot of fluids, and then it was just a matter at that point of just getting itchy and trying to get back as soon as possible.”
He kept his arm in shape at home and threw a bullpen session earlier this week, so he was ready to return with a relatively normal workload on Wednesday. And he showed little rust as he got back on the mound. If anything, he looked better than before.
Yarbrough had been bothered by his recent results, including a 5.51 ERA in his past six outings since the beginning of July. He wasn’t happy with his last start, when he allowed five runs on nine hits over five innings. He analyzed the video and came to the conclusion that he was leaving too many cutters over the plate rather than crowding hitters up and in, keeping them off-balance.
“That was my goal already, and then you have 10 days to really just think about it and try to find some ways to stay busy and keep your mind active and how you can get better,” Yarbrough said. “So I was able to kind of just figure out some things.”
Yarbrough entered to start the second inning with the game tied, 2-2, and about the only trouble he encountered came right away. It took the lefty 11 pitches to strike out Maikel Franco, but it was smooth sailing from there as he retired 15 of the 16 batters he faced.
“I think he's feeling a lot better,” catcher Francisco Mejía said. “I think he executed his pitches all really well with his location today.”
And that cutter he focused on during his time away was his “best pitch,” Mejía said. He threw it 44 times, and he effectively located it up and in against the Orioles’ right-handed hitters. The soft contact specialist pitched his kind of game, allowing only two hard-hit balls while holding the Orioles to an average exit velocity of 80.5 mph.
“It was amazing how efficient he was and how good his stuff was for not having a normal routine,” manager Kevin Cash said. “If you can suppress hard contact, eventually the needle is going to sway in your favor. And I think that's the hope that we're going to see with Yarbs over these next 45 days.”
Yarbrough had plenty of help from the Rays’ lineup. Tampa Bay pulled ahead in the fourth, when Joey Wendle doubled off Orioles starter Spenser Watkins and scored on a single to left field by Brandon Lowe. Wander Franco then ripped an RBI double to left, one of the rookie’s three hits on the night.
The Rays loaded the bases with nobody out against lefty reliever Paul Fry in the sixth, then Franco smacked a hard single to shortstop Richie Martin off righty Dillon Tate to drive in one run. Nelson Cruz and Austin Meadows followed with sacrifice flies to make it a three-run inning, and Meadows tacked on an RBI double to left in the eighth for his 81st RBI of the season.
“Top to bottom, we're putting a lot of pressure on opposing pitchers,” Cash said. “Kind of want to stay out of the way and let them keep doing it, because from the dugout, you can really appreciate the quality of at-bats.”