Joe Boyle shows Rays some things with 5 no-hit innings against Braves

TAMPA — Rays manager Kevin Cash looked over at third-base coach Brady Williams two batters into the sixth inning Sunday and acknowledged his unpopular decision before he headed to the mound.

“I was like, this is going to go over real well right now,” Cash said.

For five innings, Cash had little to be concerned about.

Hard-throwing right-hander Joe Boyle, called up from Triple A to provide an extra day’s rest for the five starters in the Rays rotation, turned the spot start into a masterful showcase of what he is capable of in an 8-3 win.

Boyle struck out four of the first six Braves and retired the first 13 before allowing a baserunner on a one-out walk to Ozzie Albies in the fifth. Boyle went into the sixth inning with only 62 pitches thrown, a 4-0 lead and a no-hitter intact.

There was much to be impressed with.

“The comfort, the confidence and the way he was able to get in a rhythm really good against an Atlanta offense that kind of left (Saturday’s) game on fire a little bit,” Cash said. “He seemed to calm them, not giving them too much. It was pretty dominant stuff early on.”

But when Boyle opened the sixth by hitting 8-hole hitter Nick Allen with a pitch, letting him steal second, then walking No. 9 hitter Eli White on his 12th pitch of the inning, Cash knew it was enough of a good thing.

“I can appreciate the way baseball is viewed. I understand that. … I’m fully aware,” Cash said. “But I do think it was the right move in the moment. If there was a chance we were going to let him work through that inning, maybe it’s a different story. But six innings is all he was going to go.”

Seeing Cash walk toward him, Boyle — aware he had the no-hitter going — said he got it.

“I understood it,” Boyle said. “I definitely want to stay in the ballgame, but I’m not going to argue with him. I understood the decision there, so I respect that.”

Reliever Mason Montgomery made things a bit dicey as both of those runners, plus another, scored (an error by Junior Caminero on a tough play at third also was a factor), cutting the lead to 4-3.

But the Rays offense, which has been unproductive at times, quickly rebuilt the lead. They scored four more runs, with Caminero redeeming himself with a three-run homer.

Had they not added on, it wouldn’t have taken away from what Boyle did. But it certainly made for a better day.

Boyle, acquired in December from the A’s in the Jeffrey Springs trade, was pleased with his work and — being a big process guy — how he went about it.

“I felt pretty good about it,” he said. “I definitely was just, like, dialed in on my process and what I can control. I feel confident about that. Obviously, (I) can’t control the results and what they do, but all in all happy with the way it went.”

Especially important, he said, was throwing strikes from the start.

Before the game, Cash said Boyle had “wow” stuff. After watching him hit 99 mph five times with his fastball, effectively mix in his hard slider and splinker (a combo split-finger and sinker), throw 46 of his 76 pitches for strikes and stay mostly in control and command, Cash stuck with that assessment.

“I don’t know how many ways you can describe it,” he said. “It does not look like it’s very comfortable for the opposition up there. And when he fills up the strike zone like he did really early on, the first two or three innings, he can be really dominant.”

Boyle had some success in Oakland (5-6 record, 5.23 ERA, 71 strikeouts in 63 ⅔ innings over 16 games) but trouble throwing strikes (45 walks). One of the few changes the Rays made this spring was to consolidate his repertoire.

He ditched the slower breaking stuff (curve, sweeper) and focused on the high-octane fastball and two “off-speed” pitches, which both averaged 90-plus mph Sunday.

Limiting Boyle to the three, pitching coach Kyle Snyder said, “should allow for more count control, and then I think the more we’re able to expand and put hitters away, I think that’s going to reduce some walk rates as well.”

Plus, using the slider (which at times looks like a cutter) as the breaking ball should make things easier on Boyle.

“(He’s) just really focusing on a couple of mechanical cues to just allow him to kind of shut his brain off, drop into the subconscious a little bit and feel the things that he needs to feel to be able to repeat the delivery and execute pitches,” Snyder said.

Catcher Danny Jansen had a good view of how the dastardly trio played Sunday.

“They’re great, and they complement each other pretty good, too,” he said. “When you’ve got to worry about 100 at the top and you’ve got two pitches going opposite ways at the same speed, roughly around 88 to 92, I mean, it’s going to be tough if you’re filling up the zone early like he’s doing.”

Boyle, 25, should feel good about what he did, even as he is expected to head back to Durham Monday to be replaced by a reliever, with Eric Orze a likely option.

The Rays should feel even better that the next time they need a starter Boyle will be ready and able to step up.

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