By Drew Rasmussen Is Becoming the Rays Starter You Want With the Season on the Line
By Ken Filler | Tampa Bay Sports Journal
DETROIT — When the Tampa Bay Rays desperately need a win right now, there may not be anyone they would rather see walking to the mound than Drew Rasmussen.
With the American League East race tightening and every game beginning to feel a little more like October, Rasmussen isn’t merely pitching well.
He’s becoming the guy you trust when the Rays absolutely have to have one.
Rasmussen continued his remarkable run Monday night, allowing one run on three hits over six innings in Tampa Bay’s 4-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. He struck out five, didn’t walk a batter, and improved to 14-5 with a 2.95 ERA.
It was Rasmussen’s seventh consecutive winning start, tying the longest such streak by any major-league pitcher this season.
Only Blake Snell, who won nine consecutive starts in 2018, has put together a longer streak in Rays franchise history.
But what Rasmussen is giving Tampa Bay right now goes beyond the numbers.
Rasmussen has become the Rays’ stabilizer
The Rays entered Monday having lost seven of their previous 10 games. Their once-comfortable lead in the AL East had been shrinking, and suddenly there was little room for another prolonged slump.
Rasmussen responded exactly the way an ace is supposed to respond.
He threw a season-high 103 pitches, 71 for strikes, and retired the final eight Detroit hitters he faced.
His cutter and changeup were particularly effective, and Detroit didn’t record its first hit until there were two outs in the third inning.
After Tampa Bay’s victory, Rasmussen wasn’t particularly interested in making his seven-start winning streak about himself.
He’ll credit the offense, defense, bullpen, and probably the clubhouse attendants before spending much time talking about himself.
This has become one of the best pitching stretches in baseball.
Seven starts, seven wins
Rasmussen has found different ways to win during this streak.
Against Seattle on Aug. 7, he was dominant, throwing seven scoreless innings while allowing only two hits and striking out eight in a 2-1 Rays victory.
Against the White Sox six days earlier, he struck out 10 over six scoreless innings as Tampa Bay won 1-0.
Then there was his Aug. 19 start against Toronto.
Rasmussen didn’t have his best stuff, allowing five runs over five innings, but the Rays offense bailed him out in a 7-6 victory.
Through his five August starts, Rasmussen is 5-0 with 31 strikeouts in 29 innings.
Rasmussen will sometimes win 1-0.
Sometimes he’ll win when his offense scores seven runs.
The common denominator is that Tampa Bay keeps winning when Rasmussen starts.
Cash trusts Rasmussen when things get difficult.
He did a really nice job,” Cash said. “Got a lead early, and then just pitched pretty efficiently.” Cash post-game after the Rays 4-1 against the Tigers.
“He controls his mindset as well as any pitcher that we have,” Cash said after Monday’s win.
That might be Rasmussen’s most important statistic as September approaches.
October baseball isn’t always about overpowering hitters for seven innings. Eventually, a runner will be on second with one out.
There will be a three-ball count. There will be a defensive mistake. There will be a postseason crowd screaming on every pitch.
The pitchers who survive those moments are the ones who don’t allow the moment to change what they do.
Rasmussen looks like one of those pitchers.
His season deserves more attention
Rasmussen’s overall numbers have quietly moved him into elite territory.
After Monday’s start, the two-time All-Star owns a 14-5 record, 2.95 ERA, and 0.93 WHIP with 143 strikeouts against only 25 walks in 140 1/3 innings.
That’s not simply a good season. That’s the résumé of a pitcher who deserves to be part of the American League Cy Young conversation.
And Rasmussen is doing it for a team trying to win the AL East.
Tampa Bay’s win moved the Rays to 78-53 and extended their division lead over the idle Yankees to 3½ games.
Bryan Baker finished Monday’s victory with his MLB-leading 38th save, his 27th consecutive successful conversion.
There is still plenty of baseball left, and the Rays have already received a reminder of how quickly a division lead can disappear.
That’s why Rasmussen’s emergence couldn’t come at a better time.
This is the pitcher you want in October
Strike throwing. Efficiency. Composure. Quality innings. And an expectation that Tampa Bay is going to have a chance to win whenever No. 57 takes the ball.
A division title potentially hanging in the balance during the final week of September.
Who do you want standing on the mound?
Rasmussen is making a compelling case that he should be the answer.
Seven consecutive winning starts. A 14-5 record. An ERA under 3.00. A WHIP under 1.00. And perhaps most importantly, the calm demeanor of someone who looks the same whether he’s protecting a one-run lead in May or pitching in the middle of a pennant race in late August.
For Rays fans who have watched this division lead become a little less comfortable over the past couple of weeks, Rasmussen’s emergence should be reassuring.
The Rays still have work to do.
The Yankees aren’t going away. September won’t be easy. And if Tampa Bay gets where it wants to go, the pressure will only increase.
But every contender needs a starting pitcher it can hand the baseball to when the season feels like it’s hanging in the balance.
Right now, Drew Rasmussen looks like that pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays.
