Rays Notebook: Manuel Margot's Hitting Streak Reaches 14

Even though the Tampa Bay bats have been stifled by New York pitching the past few days, Rays outfielder Manuel Margot continues to rake. He had a double on Friday night, and has now hit in 14 consecutive games.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Manuel Margot ripped a double off the left-field wall to start the sixth inning on Friday night, extending his hitting streak to 14 games. That's a personal best, by far, for the Tampa Bay outfielder.

And he's done it the hard way, too.

Margot had hit in 11 straight games before a hamstring injury forced him onto the injured list on May 15. He missed 10 days, but has hit safely in three more games since returning on Wednesday. He had a single in return Wednesday against the Miami Marlins, two hits Thursday night in the 7-2 loss to the New York Yankees and the double on Friday night.

"It's pretty hard. We've seen some guys go on the IL and the way they go on the IL, they look like different players coming off,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "It's not that easy to do, but Manny was as locked in as anybody.  We felt pretty good after that lead-off double, but we just couldn't capitalize.''

Margot's previous best streak was 10 games. His 14-game streak is the longest current streak in the AL. He's batting .477 during the streak — 21-for-44 with three homers and 15 RBIs — and it's the longest streak by a Rays' hitter since Austin Meadows hit in 16 straight games from Sept. 1-18 in 2019.  

The Rays' club record is a 19-game hitting streak by Jason Bartlett from May 15–June 25, 2009.

Rays' hitters scuffling

The Rays were shut out for the second time this season, the first being the May 10 no-hitter against the Los Angeles Angels. They hadn't been shut out at home since Sept. 19, 2021 against Detroit.

The Rays have been held scoreless in 17 of 18 innings this series and have scored only two runs in their last 25 innings, dating back to the second inning on Wednesday against Miami. They have scored two runs or fewer in back-to-back games for the just the second time this season. It also happened in back-to-back losses to the Chicago White Sox on April 15-16 in Chicago.

The Rays had only two hits Friday, with Randy Arozarena getting a fifth inning single.

"You've got to give Taillon credit. We're in a bit of an offensive rut right now, but we'll get out of it. We've got to find a way to get the offense going. It's not on one guy or two. It's just the collective, have some at-bats and get some momentum going from that.''

Sellout Saturday

Remember that Saturday's game with the Yankees is sold out, so there are no tickets remaining in the primary market. Also remember that a large crowd means more traffic and longer lines, so get there early and enjoy the day. 

Related stories on Rays baseball

• YANKEES BLANK RAYS (Fri.): Tampa Bay was looking forward to challenging the New York Yankees this weekend, but their bats haven't showed up. The Rays were silenced for the second straight night, this time by Yankees starter Jameson Taillon, who only allowed two hits through eight innings in the 2-0 victory. CLICK HERE
• CORTES DOMINATES RAYS (Thurs.): Tampa Bay's Ryan Yarbrough matched New York's Nestor Cortes for five innings Thursday night, but a tough sixth inning led to a 7-2 Yankees' victory. Cortes went eight-plus and was tough to figure out for Rays' hitters. CLICK HERE
• JUST FOR STARTERS: Here's our breakdown on Tampa Bay starter Jeffrey Springs, with his numbers from Friday night in our ''Just For Starters'' feature, including cumulative stats on the starting rotation all season. CLICK HERE
• TOM BREW COLUMN: The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays did something usual on Thursday, taking to social media to highlight this country's serious problem with gun violence after events in Buffalo, N.Y. and Uvalde, Texas in the past week or so. There were no game updates, just gun violence statistics. Good for them. CLICK HERE
• 1-2 PUNCH WITH McCLANAHAN, RASMUSSEN: The argument can be made that Tampa Bay starters Shane McClanahan and Drew Rasmussen are the best one-two punch in the American League, and they've been really good the past month or so. Their numbers are exceptional, and here's our comparison of the best pair of pitchers in the league. CLICK HERE
• RAYS 2022 SCHEDULE: Here is the complete 2022 schedule for the Tampa Bay Rays, with results and stats from every game far, and dates, locations and gametimes for the rest of the season. CLICK HERE