Rays Ryan Yarbroughs progress starting to show – Tampa Bay Times

MIAMI The progress Ryan Yarbrough has made over four seasons with the Rays can be measured in many ways.

One obvious one? His ascension from primarily pitching behind an opener to a full-time spot in the rotation with the responsibility of shouldering a heavy workload and starting the second game of the season, which he will do Friday night.

Obviously, theres been a lot of work been put in over the years, Yarbrough said.

A lot of people have helped get me to this point, especially with the Rays and helped give me my development over the years to be able to be like this. So Im feeling really blessed. But at the same time, still got a lot of work to do.

Yarbrough got a win as a reliever last season but has a team record-tying 17-start winless streak, dating to Aug. 11, 2019.

Another issue Friday will be hitting. With an 0-for-3 career mark, he has a simple plan: Just make contact. I mean, lets not over-complicate things.

Tyler Glasnow wasnt sure what happened or why his back tightened up just before Thursdays start. While obviously pleased he was able to pitch through it and pitch well he was disappointed he didnt really get to hit after looking forward to it and talking about it with coaches for weeks. But Glasnow decided, smartly, he couldnt risk taking swings during his two at-bats. Instead, he stood at the plate statue-ing, he called it and struck out on five pitches both times. I was so excited to swing, he said. And then (Thursday) I was like, All right, Im not going to be able to. Unfortunate. Manager Kevin Cash praised Glasnow for finding a way to get through six innings. Two years ago, I dont know if hes able to manage that that way, Cash said. Hes certainly come a long way and understanding his body and understanding how much he means to our club.

This was the 37th 1-0 win in Rays franchise history, 13th with the run coming on a homer and first on opening day. (They had only one previous shutout win in an opener, 7-0 in 2000 at Minnesota.) Going into Thursday, there had been 43 1-0 opening-day wins overall in modern history (since 1901), 16 by road teams. The last American League team to win 1-0 on the road was the 1946 Indians, at Chicago, with Bob Feller starting. ... This was the second 1-0 win in an interleague opener, the Rangers beating the Rockies last year.

Opening day was a frustrating event for Rays fans who couldnt watch because Bally Sports Sun (formerly Fox Sports Sun) isnt carried by their provider, such as Frontier cable, Hulu or YouTube TV. We understand that many fans across Tampa Bay are unable to watch Rays baseball due to the current carriage dispute between Sinclair Broadcast Group (which owns Bally) and select providers, team president Matt Silverman said. We are very pleased that Spectrum carries Bally Sports Sun, and we support Bally Sports Sun working with all providers to make Rays baseball available in every home in Tampa Bay.

The Rays are 12-12 in openers. Thursday was their first on the road since 2009, ending a streak of 11 straight, and first against an NL team. With 7,062 fans, the stadium was at about 27-percent capacity, and Cash said they appreciated all of them: Well take whatever percentage these ballparks or cities allow. Its just a different game. Its a better game with our fans. . The Rays have shut out the Marlins in three of their last four games in Miami.

Staff writer John Romano contributed to this report.

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Rays Ryan Yarbroughs progress starting to show - Tampa Bay Times