June 14, 2015: C.J. Riefenhauser earns his only major-league win for Rays

On Sunday, June 14, 2015, the Tampa Bay Rays were in second place in the American League East Division and looking to complete a sweep of the AL Central’s last-place Chicago White Sox. The White Sox sent their best pitcher, Chris Sale, to the mound to salvage a win. Sale had struck out 12 or more batters in his previous three starts.

The 2015 season was one of transition for the Rays. Manager Joe Maddon led the team for nine years, from last place in 2006 to the World Series in 2008, as well as several other division titles and postseason appearances. After the 2014 season he exercised an option to get out of his Rays contract and signed to manage the Chicago Cubs. In 2016 Maddon led the Cubs to their first World Series win in more than 100 years.

The Rays chose Cleveland bullpen coach and former Rays catcher Kevin Cash to be their new manager. Cash went on to win the AL Manager of the Year Award in 2020 and 2021, the first AL manager in history to win the award in back-to-back seasons. In 2015, his first year as manager, with a roster also in transition, Cash’s team faded in the second half and ended the year in fourth place with an 80-82 record.

On June 14, 2015, the Rays sent Nate Karns to the mound to oppose Sale. Over his career, Karns was not nearly as great a pitcher as Sale, but 2015 proved to be Karns’ finest season. He finished the year with a 7-5 record and an ERA under 4.00 for the first time in his career.

The hurlers matched goose eggs in the first inning. In the top of the second, after Melky Cabrera grounded out, Gordon Beckham broke his 0-for-21 hitless streak with a double and scored on Yolmer Sánchez’s single. Right fielder Steven Souza threw home in a vain attempt to get Beckham; Rays catcher René Rivera threw to second and nailed Sánchez trying to stretch his hit into a double. With two outs, Karns got Tyler Flowers out on a grounder to third to hold the White Sox to one run.

The Rays mounted their own threat in the bottom of the third inning. After catcher Rivera grounded out, Sale hit Brandon Guyer with a pitch. Joey Butler reached first on an error by third baseman Beckham. Guyer stole third and Butler moved up to second on a wild pitch, leaving runners on second and third with one out. Sale then struck out the Rays’ number-three hitter, Evan Longoria, and cleanup hitter Logan Forsythe to end the inning.

Karns pitched strongly, scattering some singles and getting outs when he needed to hold the White Sox scoreless from the third through the end of the sixth inning. Sale was more dominant, keeping the Rays off the board and striking out 10 through the sixth.

Rays manager Cash called on second-year reliever C.J. Riefenhauser to start the seventh. Riefenhauser got Sánchez to ground out for the first out. Flowers singled to center but was forced out at second on Adam Eaton’s grounder. Rivera threw Eaton out trying to steal second to end the inning. Riefenhauser earned a hold and would soon earn more than that.

The White Sox sent Sale back to the mound after the seventh-inning stretch. He walked Souza, then grooved a fastball to shortstop Asdrúbal Cabrera, who deposited it over the left-field fence for a home run to put the Rays ahead, 2-1. First baseman Jake Elmore followed with a single, but Sale steadied and struck out Franklin and Rivera to end the inning and make it the fourth consecutive game in which he struck out 12 or more batters.

After the game, Sale told the Associated Press, “It was a stupid mistake walking the guy. Then a fastball right down the middle and you lose the game. Guys are going to hit home runs; you can’t control that. What I can control is giving guys free passes.”1

Elmore took advantage of Sale’s concentration on batter Guyer to steal second. Guyer walked, and White Sox bench coach Mark Parent, managing the team while manager Robin Ventura attended his daughter’s college graduation, brought in right-hander Jake Petricka to pitch to Butler. Petricka struck him out looking to end the inning.

Now that the Rays had the lead, Cash put Kevin Kiermaier in center field in the top of the eighth, moved Guyer to left, and sent Steve Gelz to the mound. Gelz retired the White Sox in order.

The Rays threatened again in the bottom of the eighth on singles by Longoria and Forsythe, but Souza grounded into a double play and Cabrera flied out to end the inning. Kevin Jepsen pitched a scoreless ninth for the save, and Riefenhauser earned his first (and what would be his only) major-league victory.

Reflecting on the win in 2023, Riefenhauser said, “It’s great to tell everyone I beat Chris Sale, but it was Asdrúbal Cabrera who beat Chris Sale with a homer, and the rest of the bullpen that shut them down. In the clubhouse after the game, we all had a great time, and they gave me the scorecard because it was my first win.”2

Riefenhauser finished 2015 with 14⅔ innings pitched in 17 games. He had a 1-0 won-lost record, but a 5.52 ERA and a FIP (fielding-independent pitching) mark of 6.27. After the season, the Rays traded Riefenhauser to the Seattle Mariners along with the starter he relieved in the game, Karns, and minor-league outfielder Boog Powell for Danny Farquhar, Brad Miller, and Logan Morrison. Before he even got to spring training, Seattle traded Riefenhauser and Mark Trumbo to the Baltimore Orioles for Steve Clevenger.

The Rays got the better of this deal. Miller hit 30 homers and drove in 81 runs for the Rays in 2016 and was still playing in the majors for Texas in 2023. Morrison had an indifferent 2016 campaign but hit 38 homers and drove in 85 runs for the 2017 squad. Farquhar didn’t do much for the Rays but did equal Riefenhauser’s 1-0 record in 2016. Karns earned a 6-2 record in his one season in Seattle in 2016, but with a 5.15 ERA.

Chris Sale took the loss but became only the third pitcher since records started being kept in 1914 to strike out 12 or more batters in four consecutive games, joining Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Pedro Martínez. Sale extended that streak to five games with 12 or more strikeouts in his next start, June 19. Sale led the American League in strikeouts in 2015 with 274, which is still the White Sox record for most strikeouts in a season.

Riefenhauser suffered a series of injuries and never pitched in the major leagues after 2015. As of 2023, he was a gym teacher and baseball coach for Yorktown Heights (New York) High School.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted a number of other sources,

including Baseball-Reference.com, espn.com, and Retrosheet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TBA/TBA201506140.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2015/B06140TBA2015.htm

Notes

1 Associated Press, “Chris Sale First Since ’01 to Fan 12 in 4 Straight, but White Sox Fall to Rays,” ESPN.com, June 14, 2015. https:/www.espn.com/mlb/recap/_/gameId/350614130.

2 Author interview with C.J. Riefenhauser, January 27, 2023.