And Look At Us, We’re a Disaster: Cubs 6, Rays 2

Apr 8, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Joe Boyle (36) throws a pitch against the Chicago Cubs in the first inning at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Through four innings, this was an enjoyable game.

Joe Boyle and Colin Rea took two different approaches attacking hitters as each limited the other side to just one run. Boyle made an early mistake missing his location on a putaway sweeper that Nico Hoerner converted into a leadoff home run, but then Boyle quickly rebounded to retire the next batter and then execute that first sequence to Alex Bregman. Boyle did not miss that time and got the well-disciplined veteran on a check swing to strike out.

Boyle, for the next three innings, went on to show more growth as he looked to distance himself from his days of wildness mixing in his new sinker and improved sweeper while aggressively attacking the strike zone. Then, the 5th inning happened and the rather enjoyable game evolved into another cavalcade of self-inflicted problems to completely change the tone of the game. The fifth inning opened with Boyle being a bit wild inside with his first two pitches before finding the zone again until Carson Kelly tried to pull a Derek Jeter and milk a hit-by-pitch on a ball which clearly hit the knob of the bat.

The Rays successfully challenged the play, but Kelly took what felt like a commercial break to redress with his acoutrements. The long delay between pitches may have gotten to Boyle as he missed high on the next pitch and then hung another slider which resulted in a leadoff double to Kelly. The next at bat was a five-pitch walk to Ballesteros with only one of the pitches in the zone which was followed by a similar at bat to Dansby Swanson that loaded the bases with no outs.