DRaysBay · Jul 17, 2019
The Rays bullpen got stretched, and it cost them
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports When Aaron Judge faced off against Colin Poche as the go-ahead run in the ninth, everybody knew it was a bad matchup for the Rays. Poche is an intriguing relief prospect, with a sneaky dominant fastball that seems to play in the major leagues, but this matchup had multiple disadvantages for him: lefty-on-righty; an extreme flyball pitcher in a tiny ballpark; an opponent with perhaps the best power stroke in the game.
The result was hardly a surprise.
While Poche faced righties DJ LeMahieu (struck him out) and then Judge, I was thinking to myself, “Uh, [manager Kevin] Cash, you wanna maybe make a change? You really okay with this?”