Rays Notebook: Kittredge Optimistic on Quick Return, Feyereisen Praises Walls and More

Feyereisen still perfect

Rays reliever J.P. Feyereisen needed only five pitches to get through the ninth inning on Sunday, picking up his first save of the season and running his streak of consecutive scoreless innings to 23 from the start of the season. 

His scoreless stretch is the longest in the majors without allowing an earned run all year. Opponents are hitting just .062 against him — just 5-for-75 — and all five hits were singles, "a tremendous run,'' manager Kevin Cash said.

His 20 appearances without allowing a run to start a season is the most in Rays history by far now. Nick Anderson (2020) and Scott Aldred (1999) had 14 in a row.

Feyereisen, acquired from Milwaukee last May along with Drew Rasmussen in the Willy Adames trade, has actually done something close to this before. From Sept. 25, 2020 to May 8, 2021 with the Brewers, he went 18 straight games without allowing a run.

He's been a big part of the last two wins over the Yankees, along with Jason Adam and Colin Poche. The three of them each pitched an inning in both games, just in a different order. Poche pitched the ninth Saturday, and the eighth on Sunday. It was the other way around for Feyereisen. Adam pitched the seventh both days, and now his ERA is down to 0.87. Poche has an 0.77 ERA in May in 11 1/3 innings. 

Two huge wins, and all is good again.

"Any time that you go down 0-2 and come out with a split, it's good enough. It was huge for us to split. These past two games, that was Rays baseball,'' Feyereisen said. "Shane (McClanahan) did an awesome job starting — six innings of one-run ball —and Jason has been the fireman, getting guys out and slamming doors shut. We battled and guys made plays. The defense was unbelievable.''

Feyereisen had high praise for Rays infielder Taylor Walls, who started a huge double play from third base in the sixth, and then moved to second and made a great play behind the bag with a perfect throw to end the eighth.

Walls is considered an outstanding defensive player, but he's made seven errors already this season and has received plenty of criticism from fans. His .145 batting average hasn't helped either. Walls also had a home run Sunday to give the Rays the lead.

"Everyone's been harping on him for errors, but that's only because he gets to balls that no one else gets to,'' Feyereisen said of Walls. Even the error yesterday where he lost his footing a little bit, most guys can't even make that throw. That kid is special.''

Pitching rotation for Texas trip

The Rays made their one and only trip to Arlington, Texas this week, playing four games with the Rays on Monday through Thursday. The first three are night games, followed by a Thursday matinee on getaway day.

Drew Rasmussen will start on Monday night. The Rays still have TBA on Tuesday, but the plan is that Ryan Yarbrough will pitch the bulk of that game, either as a starter or following an opener. He's been successful either way. Jeffrey Springs will start Wednesday and Corey Kluber will pitch the series finale.

The Rangers rank No. 10 in the American League in earned run average, and three of the four starters the Rays will see on this trip — Glenn Otto, Jon Gray and Taylor Hearn — all have ERAs of 4.91 or higher. Their only quality starter those far is Martin Perez, who's pitching on Tuesday. He is 3-2 this season with a 1.60 ERA, best in the AL. 

Around the horn

Rays first baseman Ji-Man Choi had a home run in the second inning to tie the game, and it was his fourth of the year. "I had a good feeling today, and luckily I got the home run,'' Choi said through interpreter Daniel Park. "I made good contact, but right now the ball feels a lot different from last year, and I didn't think it was going to be a home run. ... The Rays are now a season-high nine games over .500, tying the mark they've reached once before (Wednesday, after sweep over the Miami Marlins. ... This was the fifth time in history where the Rays have won a game with two hits or less. The other four wins were all 1-0 games. ... It was also the first time in Rays history that they won a game without the benfit of a single, double or triple. ... The attendance was 25,025 on Sunday, the third sellout of the season and second in two days. ...