ST. PETERSBURG -- Maybe it was the two extra days of rest between starts. Maybe it was facing a group of Nationals hitters who haven’t seen him much before. Maybe it was one of those nights where everything synced up for
Pitching for the first time in a week as the Rays look for ways to manage his workload without cutting his outings short, Glasnow put together his seventh double-digit strikeout start of the season -- breaking a tie with Cleveland’s Shane Bieber for the most in the Majors -- and forced the Nationals to swing and miss on 27 of his career-high 114 pitches.\n\n“His stuff was outstanding. He commanded the ball really well. And the Nationals aren't a team that sees him all the time, so there's not a big track record with those hitters facing him,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “But either way, it didn't matter who Glas was facing tonight. He had his ‘A’ stuff that he was bringing to the table.”
Glasnow’s swinging-strike total tied the Rays’ pitch-tracking-era record set by himself and Rich Hill earlier this season. He has now worked at least seven innings in four of his last five starts and six of 13 this season, adding efficiency and a bit of a workhorse mentality to a profile that already included some of the nastiest stuff in the Majors.\n\nGlasnow wasn’t sure if the extra rest contributed to his dominant outing Tuesday night. He said his timing on the mound was “great,” a feeling that tends to mitigate the fatigue that sets in during a long outing. He said his slider was the best it’s been all season. Both of those things stemmed from an aggressive mentality, aided by
Glasnow threw 93 pitches across the first six innings. Considering how he was pitching and the extra rest he had, Cash and pitching coach Kyle Snyder agreed he had 15-20 pitches left and sent him out to start the seventh. Tampa Bay’s defense delivered one key out, with
The Rays jumped out to an early lead when
Finally capitalizing on some of the eight walks they worked, the Rays broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth.