Dynamite duo of McClanahan, Patiño key win

At some point in the near future, you might see Shane McClanahan and Luis Patiño pitching together atop the Rays’ rotation. For now, having the dynamic lefty-righty duo pitch together in the same game is working out just fine.

McClanahan and Patiño combined to allow just one run over seven innings while striking out 10 against the Angels on Tuesday, flashing their electric stuff throughout the Rays’ 8-3 win at Angel Stadium. Tampa Bay has won three games in a row to climb back above .500 at 16-15.

“Just really good performances,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “The amount of experience they're gaining on the fly really quick, especially facing this lineup and who's in it, that'll make you mature really quick. Because you've got to be on your game to have success against their group of hitters.”

They had plenty. The 24-year-old McClanahan, the Rays’ No. 4 prospect, threw four dazzling innings, holding the Angels scoreless with his triple-digit heat and a nasty slider. The 21-year-old Patiño, who only recently graduated from top prospect lists, fired fastballs high and low, while mixing in a wicked slider of his own over his three innings of work.

Seeing McClanahan and Patiño pitch one after the other -- the way that they have each of their last two times out -- it’s easy to think ahead about what their emergence might mean for the Rays’ rotation later this season or years into the future. Their minds might wander into the future, too, but not so far as to lose focus on doing their jobs right now.

“We've talked about it. And I think if it's meant to be, it's meant to be,” McClanahan said. “It's exciting. We're going to go out there and control what we can control right now and that's filling up the zone.”

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Making his second start, McClanahan leaned mostly on his fastball and slider. His fastball topped 100 mph five times on the night and his new slider accounted for 32 of his 63 pitches. For good reason, too: The Angels whiffed on eight of the 14 swings that they took against McClanahan’s slider and only put one in play (for an out). He allowed only two hits and two walks while striking out five.

The Rays remain mindful of the left-hander’s workload, not pushing him beyond four innings and 63 pitches at this early point of the season. It’s a long season, and Tampa Bay always keeps an eye on both the present and future with young arms like McClanahan and Patiño. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s easy for Cash to end their outings so early.

“I'd love to have him pitch longer, but we're gonna try to be very wise with our decisions and his buildup,” Cash said. “How can you not want the guy to continue pitching? It's just electric stuff.”

Before the Angels could get comfortable against the flamethrowing lefty, Cash summoned Patiño from the bullpen. He wasn’t quite as efficient as McClanahan, but he was nearly as difficult to hit. Patiño struck out five while allowing two hits and the only mistake that he made was a hanging slider that Mike Trout ripped out to left field for a solo homer in the sixth inning.

“He's so good at baseball. It's always really fun to watch Luis pitch,” McClanahan said. “I think we're looking at one of the best young arms in the league. He's electric.”

The Rays had a far easier time capitalizing on mistakes, because the Angels made plenty in the field Tuesday night. They set the tone in the first inning, when shortstop José Iglesias couldn’t corral a Manuel Margot grounder with two outs. Up came Brandon Lowe, who smacked Alex Cobb’s next pitch into shallow right field. Second baseman David Fletcher kicked the ball into left-center -- the second of four Angels errors on the night -- and third-base coach Rodney Linares alertly sent Margot home to score from first.

Angels starter Alex Cobb, whose departure in free agency provided Tampa Bay with the compensatory Draft pick that they used to select McClanahan in 2018, kept his former team at bay until the fifth. Randy Arozarena hit a leadoff single, stole second, took third on an errant throw by catcher Max Stassi and scored on Austin Meadows’ groundout.

The Rays scored two more runs as they continued to put pressure on the Angels’ shaky defense in the sixth, when Kevin Kiermaier slapped a double through a drawn-in and shifted Angels infield with runners on second and third.

Meadows broke the game open late, bashing a pair of homers in back-to-back innings off reliever Ben Rowen. Meadows’ second career multi-homer game gave him a team-leading seven home runs on the year.

“Just to be able to put the ball in play and get those runs in, that's huge for our team,” Meadows said. “And it's just a selfless approach, just trying to get the runs in for the team. And that’s obviously contagious.”