TAMPA — If you really want to know the truth, manager Kevin Cash could have done without the flipped-script narrative — the four-run rally built on a conga line of small-ball plays and Rockies miscues — and the other little things that had to go right for the Rays Sunday to end up with a 6-4 victory and opening-series win.
When he decided to pinch-hit Junior Caminero (brandishing one of those new bats with the torpedo-shaped barrels that have become all the rage) with two on and the scored tied at 2 in the sixth, Cash had a simpler result in mind.
“I want him to go up and hit a three-run home run,” he said. “But it worked out.”
It sure did.
And in a way, it could have a much more meaningful impact on the Rays as they seek to find their identity in the early part of the season.
An overriding theme entering spring training was that if the Rays can find ways — standard, creative, whatever — to score more runs, their pitching is good enough to carry them to victory.
A primary message was to improve their situational hitting. To find ways, by any means necessary, to get runners over and, ultimately, get them in.
Which was fully reinforced Sunday afternoon at Steinbrenner Field after the score was tied 2-2 in the sixth thanks to a first-inning homer by Brandon Lowe and a strong start by Taj Bradley, who got nicked for solo runs in the fifth and sixth.
“Just try to make things happen,” third baseman Jose Caballero said, “and they’re going to happen.”
They happened.
Even more impressively, against a Colorado defense that was impenetrable Saturday, with the Rays lacing the balls all over the field and the Rockies making a reel of highlight plays.
“We did a good job of putting pressure on the defense that was really good the day before,” Cash said. “Sometimes there’s a lot of value just to moving the baseball like we did (Sunday), and that’s kind of how that big inning unfolded.”
After Jonathan Aranda was hit by a one-out pitch and Taylor Walls singled — the only batted ball of the inning to leave the infield — Caminero pitch-hit for rookie Kameron Misner.
Caminero is known for the triple-digit ferocity with which he hits most balls. This was not that.
The grounder up the middle measured at 70.2 mph, but it was placed well and caused misplays by second baseman Tyler Freeman, who tried to field it, and shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, who scrambled to retrieve it but made an off-target throw to the plate.
At that point, the Rays had a run in, with Walls on third and Caminero on second.
And Jose Caballero — who Cash called “a winning player” who delivers “game-changing stuff” and their MVP in the opening series — ready to make the play of the day.
One of the situations the Rays worked on extensively in spring was getting a runner in from third, even using the b-word that for many years was seldom said out loud — bunting.
Caballero actually tried one during Friday’s season-opening win but fouled it off before delivering a single that tied the score.
Sunday he decided to try again, and it worked quite well.
He pushed the bunt toward third, and by the time the Rockies were done throwing the ball around Walls and Caminero both had scored, with Caballero ending up on second.
That led to another run, as Caballero stole ...
