Jeffrey Springs throws six no-hit innings as Rays sweep Tigers

ST. PETERSBURG — Rays manager Kevin Cash figured the least he could do was deliver the bad news himself.

Jeffrey Springs had been dazzling through six innings Sunday, holding the Tigers without a hit, striking out 12 of the 19 batters he faced and allowing just one walk.

But he had thrown 81 pitches and was making his first outing of the year, with more building up to do. Given the way the Rays prize and protect their starters, Springs’ workday was done no matter what he said in what really wasn’t that tough of a call.

Rather than send pitching coach Kyle Snyder, Cash approached the talented left-hander in the dugout.

“I wouldn’t do that to Kyle,” Cash said. “They need to like Kyle. If they don’t like me, that’s OK.”

That the first batter of the seventh, Riley Greene, hustled his way to an infield hit on a grounder that first baseman Luke Raley and reliever Colin Poche couldn’t make the play on spoiled any further suspense about the Rays completing the no-hitter.

But it hardly tarnished the day, as they rolled to a 5-1 win, sweeping the Tigers to open a season 3-0 for just the fourth time in their 26-year franchise history.

“We should be pretty happy,” Cash said.

Springs was a big reason Sunday, as he mixed his new sweeping breaking ball into his fastball-changeup-slider repertoire, worked ahead in counts and got 13 swings-and-misses, with 58 strikes overall.

He became just the second pitcher in modern major-league history (since 1901) to strike out 12 or more batters in six (or fewer) no-hit innings, joining Jose Berrios (2021).

”Just trying to continue to mix and move, pitch to my strengths, things that I like to do — speed up hitters and slow them down, kind of pick and choose when to throw the fastball,” Springs said. “But overall, I felt like I was able to spin it well and kind of keep them off balance.”

Springs did well last season, enough to earn a four-year, $31 million contract extension with options and escalators, and had a great spring, throwing 14 shutout innings over four games with 24 strikeouts.

“We talked about the camp that he had, (and) he might have gotten a little bit better,” Cash said. “That was just an outstanding performance, ton of swing and miss, ton of called strikes. His stuff is probably playing at an all-time high, and he’s putting it to use about as good as you can possibly do.”

Springs’ teammates, including the two who got the biggest hits, piled on the praise.

“I’m very proud of him,” Jose Siri, who had a two-run single, said via team interpreter Manny Navarro. “Watching that change-up from centerfield, it was just incredible.”

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Added Randy Arozarena, whose 436-foot homer in the fourth gave the Rays a 1-0 lead, via Navarro: “Very happy for him. I wouldn’t have wanted to hit off him, just because nobody else was hitting off him.”

Poche and Raley said there wasn’t much they could have done on Greene’s hit. Raley, who is still learning the position, played back for the hop; and Poche, who falls off to the third-base side of the mound, wasn’t going to outrun Greene. “The short answer would be he’s fast, and I’m slow,” Poche said.

When Poche got done raving about how good Springs looked, he joked that he only felt bad for him to a degree: “Six innings, struck out 12, so I think he can live with himself (Sunday). You can’t have it all sometimes.”

Springs said he didn’t know for sure he was done after six, that he hadn’t looked at his pitch count. He knew he’d had some quick outs, felt good and wasn’t too tired. But as much as he “obviously” wanted to go back out for the seventh, he said he respected Cash’s decision.

Cash said it was “kind of gut-wrenching” given what Springs had done, but “not really” a tough call.

“Sometimes we’ve got to protect them from themselves,” he said. “Totally respect the magnitude of throwing six no-hit innings. … I apologized to him, but I felt like sometimes we’ve just got to make some decisions that are best for the team.”

Springs said he understood.

“I thought I was in a good spot,” he said. “But when he says I’m done, I’m not going to question him whatsoever. That’s his job, to manage. And my job is just to pitch. I’m good with it.

“Hopefully, there’s another opportunity that I can talk my way into it, maybe next time down the road.”

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