ST. PETERSBURG (SNN-TV) – Shane McClanahan looked sharp in his second-consecutive Opening Day start, Jose Siri and Wander Franco homered and the Tampa Bay Rays opened their 25th anniversary season with a 4-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.
The USF-product, McClanahan was masterful on the mound allowing zero runs, four hits, one walk and six strike outs on 87 pitches.
“I felt good. I made a lot of good pitches, I made some bad pitches. Ultimately, first start of the year, I thought it was a success,” said McClanahan. “Guys behind me made a lot of great plays, offense showed up and it was a good team win.”
As successful as the pitchers were today for Tampa, manager Kevin Cash liked the at-bats the lineup put together as well, especially when you combine the added adrenaline of Opening Day.
“There were a lot of good at-bats. Early on, you never know what you’re going to get on Opening Day. Saturday we’ll see some guys settle in on both teams, ” said Cash. “You see some early swings, expanding a little bit more because they’re overly amped out. After that first time through the order, the second time it felt like they looked a little bit more like themselves, and we pieced together some big at-bats.”
The Rays will have an off day tomorrow before continuing the series with the Tigers on Saturday. Offseason signee and Orlando-native, Zach Eflin, will make his first start in front of the Tropicana crowd. He’ll go up against Detroit’s Spencer Turnbull, with first pitch set for 4:10pm.