Brewers Continue Mastery Over Rays, Get Another 5-3 Win As Yarbrough Falls to 0-7
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MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Numbers don't always tell the true story of a baseball game, and oftentimes they are not fair. But what has become sadly undeniable lately is that the Tampa Bay Rays simply don't win very often when left-hander Ryan Yarbrough pitches.
The 30-year-old Lakeland, Fla., native was the Rays' bulk guy on Tuesday night in Milwaukee, and he came in for the bottom of the second after ''opener'' Jimmy Yacabonis pitched the first inning, allowing a run. Yarbrough gave up a run in the second and then was charged with two game-deciding runs in the fifth inning as the Milwaukee Brewers took a 5-3 win in the first game of a quick two-game series at American Family Field.
The Rays have now lost all three games to the Brewers this year, all by the same 5-3 margin.
Yarbrough pitched 3 1/3 innings and gave up those three runs on four hits at a walk. He is now 0-7 on the season, and the Rays are just 2-11 in games that he's pitched in. He has a 5.08 ERA on the season.
But that's where numbers don't always tell the whole story, either.
The Rays managed just four hits on the night — and went up and down in order six times — and Yarbrough did get plenty of big outs. And even the two runs he was charged with in the fifth weren't entirely his fault.
He gave up a one-out single to former teammate Willy Adames and then walked Brewers first baseman Rowdy Tellez on his 63rd and final pitch. Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash replaced him with righty Ryan Thompson, who hadn't allowed an earned run since June 16, spanning 17 outings.
But Thompson gave up a single to center by Andrew McCutcheon to make it a 3-2 game, and then Kolton Wong doubled to left, scoring Tellez and McCutcheon to blow the game open. Yarbrough was charged with the first two runs, Thompson the third.
Thompson was upset that he let those inherited runners score.
"The majority of that inning, I threw a lot of good pitches, but the two worst pitches were the two that got hit,'' Thompson said after the game. "At the end of the day, if I execute those pitches, I get both those guys out.
"That might have been the first time all year that I missed a sinker up. I've missed some left and right, but never up, and you can't leave a sinker up.''
The Rays made it 5-3 in the seventh on Jose Siri's RBI double with two outs, but the Rays never threatened again. The final seven Tampa Bay hitters all went down in order. Their two earlier runs came on a third-inning homer by Yandy Diaz, which snapped an 0-for-21 streak for the Rays' third baseman.
Catcher Christian Bethancourt and left fielder David Peralta had the Rays' other two hits, both singles. Peralta, who was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks just prior to the trade deadline, should have had a home run but was robbed by Milwaukee center fielder Tyrone Taylor, who went up over the wall to make a dramatic catch. It was the No. 1 play on ESPN's ''SportsCenter'' on Tuesday night.
"It was the coolest thing I've ever done on defense. It's something you dream of as a kid in the backyard,'' Taylor said. "I was pretty excited, and I felt the adrenaline on the inside. I did it once before in the minors in a Florida State League game, but that was a smaller fence. I'm just glad I can still get up that high.
''They're a really good team, so it was great to help the team get a win.''
The Rays are now 58-51 on the season, and are still clinging to the sixth and final playoff spot in the American League. They are a half-game ahead of the Baltimore Orioles for the final spot. Those two teams play a three-game series in St. Petersburg this weekend.
The Rays and Brewers close out their season series on Wednesday in a 2:10 p.m. ET matinee. Jeffrey Springs (4-3, 2.50 ERA) will start for Tampa Bay, and Brandon Woodruff (9-3, 3.49 ERA) gets the call for the Brewers.'
Milwaukee has won all three games in the interleague series this season. Woodruff was the winning pitcher in their 5-3 win over the Rays in late June in St. Petersburg, allowing just one run in five innings.
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