‘Mac’s the man’: McClanahan twirls gem to reach 8-0 record
ST. PETERSBURG — Not lengthy after struggling essentially the most lopsided loss in franchise historical past, the Rays made it clear they had been able to neglect about it and transfer on.
“Last night didn’t go our way, but nobody cared. Nobody remembered that when they came into the clubhouse today,” left-hander Shane McClanahan mentioned. “It’s all about putting the next foot forward and moving on from it.”
And what higher manner to take action than with their ace to the mound?
McClanahan put collectively one other gem on Wednesday evening at Tropicana Field, crusing by means of seven innings and receiving loads of run assist within the Rays’ 7-3 win over the Blue Jays. McClanahan grew to become the primary eight-game winner within the Majors this season, as his newest efficiency improved him to 8-0 with a 1.97 ERA.
“If you don’t know that Mac’s the man by now,” Rays first baseman Luke Raley mentioned, “you should.”
McClanahan allowed only one run on 4 hits, placing out seven with no stroll as Tampa Bay (36-15) gained for the tenth time in his first 11 begins of the yr. The lefty additionally grew to become the third pitcher in membership historical past to start a season with an 8-0 file, becoming a member of Matt Moore (2013) and Charlie Morton (’19). Among certified Major League pitchers, solely Sonny Gray (1.82) can at the moment declare a decrease ERA than McClanahan.
That was the man the Rays wished on the mound to rebound from Tuesday’s 20-1 defeat, and there was nowhere else McClanahan would have quite been.
“My only motive — I think anybody in here can attest to that — is, ‘Did we win?’” McClanahan mentioned. “As long as I help this team and put them in a good situation to win, that’s really, truly, all I care about. Everything else will take care of itself.”
McClanahan was in management from the beginning. He retired Toronto’s first 10 hitters so as, and he struck out 4 earlier than giving up a run on back-to-back hits by Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. within the fourth inning.
He wanted precisely 11 pitches to finish every of his first 4 innings, by no means throwing greater than 15 pitches in a body as he completed his seven-inning outing — tied for his longest begin of the season — with solely 82 pitches to his title. McClanahan confronted 25 batters, and he solely ran up a three-ball rely on two of them.
“Every time he’s out there, we know we have a great chance of winning a baseball game,” Raley mentioned. “He’s incredible. He’s got to be one of the best pitchers in the game, and I’m really glad he’s my teammate.”
For all of the success he’s had, McClanahan had issued 24 free passes in 50 innings heading into his final begin. He ironed out a number of mechanical points with pitching coach Kyle Snyder on the finish of Tampa Bay’s final highway journey, and he’s solely walked one batter in 14 innings since then. Wednesday was his first walk-free begin since Aug. 6.
“That lineup knows him very well, and they’re a bunch of really good hitters, and he kept them pretty quiet,” Rays supervisor Kevin Cash mentioned. “Speaks to the stuff that he had, the execution that he had and just committed himself to the strike zone. When he does that, we’ve seen some special outings.”
“I would rather be at the plate than on the mound, that’s for sure,” Raley mentioned, smiling.
Manuel Margot hit an RBI triple within the fourth, then he scored on Franco’s onerous single up the center to make it a 5-1 sport. Still, it wound up getting a bit of too shut for consolation after McClanahan’s exit.
Jason Adam allowed two earned runs on three hits and a stroll within the eighth earlier than Kevin Kelly got here in with the tying run on base and induced an inning-ending double play, turned by second baseman Taylor Walls, in opposition to Matt Chapman. But Siri and Franco, who completed 3-for-4 with two RBIs, put the sport away with a pair of RBI singles within the eighth.
“I felt like anybody in the world would know that this offense was going to bounce back after last night,” McClanahan mentioned. “They jumped on them and never looked back.”
