All the small things: Rays 8, Andrés Giménez 5

TORONTO, CANADA - MAY 11: Chandler Simpson #14 of the Tampa Bay Rays steals second base against the Toronto Blue Jays during the second inning in their MLB game at the Rogers Centre on May 11, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images) | Getty Images Baseball, especially the Rays brand of baseball, relies on doing all the little things well. Baseball is also a very luck dependent sport.

But, doing the little things can help manufacture some luck. Perhaps no player exemplifies that more than Chandler Simpson. Simpson got things started right away, with a comebacker to Gausman, who was rushed to try and field it and took his attention and eyes off the ball litterally and figuratively trying to get the speedy Simpson.

Once on first, Simpson drew even more attention even without running. A few pitches later Chandler was in motion allowing Junior Caminero to punch one the other way into a gaping wide hole drawn by the runner in motion. Of course once that ball found grass, Simpson was cruising into 3rd, allowing Jonathan Aranda to lift a fly ball to get the Rays on the board in the 1st.

The Rays weren’t done with Gausman in the 1st, and with some 2 out magic, Jake Fraley double and a Richie Palacios two RBI base hit gave the Rays an early 3-0 lead. They would expand that in the 2nd, with some more clutch and agressive base running. Hunter Feduccia got a single, followed by a Taylor Walls triple (it was a game for inexplicable contributions, more on that later) with Feduccia getting a good read and sprinting around to score 1st to home.