KANSAS CITY -- Drew Rasmussen is still being limited by his third major elbow surgery, which forced him from the rotation for nearly 15 months, but that hasn’t stopped him from becoming one of the best starters in Major League Baseball.
Rasmussen dealt five scoreless innings and gave up just two hits in the Rays’ 3-0 victory over the Royals on Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium. And he did it all in a season-low 62 pitches (40 strikes).
“All year I’ve given kudos to the job our staff’s doing when it comes to trying to protect me with my health history,” said Rasmussen, who notched his fifth scoreless outing in his past eight starts. “ … They’re picking and choosing a couple spots where they can keep me a little bit shorter, let me catch my breath.
“ … It’s for my own good. It’s for my own protection.”
The 29-year-old right-hander has already tossed 84 1/3 innings over 16 starts, the second most in his career in both categories. The Rays have limited his workload this season as he’s settled back into the rotation, with Rasmussen completing six innings just four times this season despite the eighth-best ERA (2.45) and ninth-best WHIP (0.96) in the Majors.
“[Pitching coach] Kyle [Snyder] and I talked before the game and felt like today was probably an opportunity to make sure we kept him right at five innings,” said manager Kevin Cash. “He always makes it [a] tough [decision] because he’s so good, we feel so good when he’s out on the mound with us, but we have to continue to be smart and just monitor the overall body of work and the workload.”
It was essentially a stress-free workload for Rasmussen, who allowed just one Royal to reach second base -- a jam he escaped on one pitch in the fourth inning by getting Salvador Perez to pop out in foul territory.
Rasmussen faced just three over the minimum when he exited, polishing an eight-start stretch in which he’s gone 6-1 with a 1.62 ERA -- one of the many catalysts in the Rays’ surge towards the top of the American League.
“I was a little caught off guard after the fifth, I thought things were rolling -- minus a walk with nobody out in the fifth inning there, I didn’t really have too many complaints with tonight’s outing,” Rasmussen said. “But like I said, they’re just looking out for me and my greater good. And it’s hard to complain about that.”
It’s also working. Rasmussen is steamrolling his way towards a possible All-Star nod, which would be the first of his career. After a multitude of injuries.
“I hope he receives some strong consideration, he’s putting up an All-Star first half for sure,” Cash said. “The way that he limits hits, runs, all of that, and does it efficiently with strikeouts, limits walks. He walked a guy and it was almost like shocking … but really dominant stuff, dominant outing by him.”
Behind Rasmussen and four scoreless frames from the bullpen, Tampa Bay’s small-ball filled second frame was more than enough for a Rays team that now has the eighth-lowest ERA (3.54) in MLB.
With runners on the corners, José Caballero put down a perfectly placed bunt to score the first run, reaching without a throw, before a wild pitch scored the second run. Danny Jansen, who hit a two-run homer in the opener, then laid down the second bunt of the frame to score Caballero from third.
“I feel like there’s many ways that we can score runs and it’s really helpful for the team,” Caballero said. “We know we can trust the pitching staff, and we just need to [get on the board] and we are going to have a good chance to win the game.”
Tampa Bay improved to 24-9 in its past 33 games and remains just one game behind the Yankees in the AL East. The Rays (45-35) moved to a season-high 10 games over .500 with their seventh shutout win of the year -- with Rasmussen’s full capability still ahead of him.
“We’re playing really well. It’s hard to complain right now,” Rasmussen said. “When things are going really well, it makes coming to the yard every day a lot of fun. I think you’re starting to see the multitude of ways we can win games. We put up three in that [second] inning, and I couldn’t even tell you how many balls left the infield. …. To put up a three spot when only two balls leave the infield is something that is pretty incredible, but that speaks to our versatility and our athleticism and the variety of ways we can win games.”