Rays Get Shut Out Again, Fall 1-0 to Orioles on Another Brutal Offensive Night
BALTIMORE, Md. — Kevin Cash's lineup card featured five Tampa Bay hitters — a term that should be used loosely these days— that were batting under .200 this season. That alone might tell you that runs would be hard to come by, but how Friday's game with the Baltimore Orioles played out was even worse.
The Rays weren't able to score a single run all night, and lost 1-0 for their fourth straight loss, tying a season-high. They missed opportunities, going 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, and had two runners thrown out on the base paths, another season-long problem.
It added up to another bad night for the Rays, who are now 35-29 and don't have answers for all that ails them on the offensive.
"It's bad. Maybe we're trying to do too much with some of our key offensive guys being out,'' said Rays center fielder Brett Phillips said, who was 0-for-4 on the night with three strikeouts, including one for the final out of the game with a runner on first. He is batting .162 on the season. "Maybe we're pressing. I know I am.
"We talk it amongst ourselves, trying to go out there and not do too much. You want to try so hard and do so good. We're in a rut right now. We know how good we are, just not right now.''
For the fourth day in a row, the Rays wasted another terrific performance by their starting pitcher. This time is was Shane Baz, who was making just his second start of the season. He pitched six scoreless inning on his 23rd birthday, and gave up only two hits all night long.
He left after six with the game still tied 0-0. The Orioles never threatened against him, but the Rays didn't do anything either against Dean Kremer, who was making just his third start of the season.
The five Rays who are under .200 — Phillips, second baseman Vidal Brujan, shortstop Taylor Walls, third baseman Isaac Paredes and catcher Rene Pinto — went 0-for-5 combined the first time through the orrder.
Brujan, who was leading off despite coming into the game with a .144 batting average, blooped a soft single to left in the third inning. He hit a hard shot in the sixth for another hit, but then was caught stealing. Ji-Man Choi then hit a rocket into the right-field corner, but he was thrown out at second, too, ending the inning.
Calvin Faucher came in to pitch the seventh inning, one of the few fresh arms in the Rays bullpen after seven pitchers had to cover all nine innings in an ''opener'' game on Thursday. He allowed a one-out double to Ryan Mountcastle and then rookie catcher Adley Rutschman singled to center just in front of Phillips, He came up throwing to try to get Mountcastle at home but his throw was slightly off line.
"It was do or die right there in that situation,'' Phillips said. "If it's a few feet in front of where it landed, it's a long hop. If it's a few feet back, it's caught in the air. It's unfortunate. You're just looking to get the ball over the pitcher's mound and give your catcher a chance there, but it's unfortunate the way it bounced.''
The Rays got back-to-back singles from Taylor Walls and pinch-hitter Manuel Margot in the eighth with one out, but Brujan and Yandy Diaz struck out to end the threat.
Tampa Bay had one last chance in the ninth, getting a two-out single from Harold Ramirez, But Phillips struck out. He has just two hits in his last 47 at-bats.
"We definitely want to put up runs for our pitching staff, because they are the backbone of this team,'' Phillips said. "But it's just not happening right now.''
The Rays, who are 35-29 now, are 1-6 so far on this three-city road trip through Minnesota, New York and now Baltimore. They were 11 games over .500 just a week ago, but now they are really struggling. They are now far closer to last-place Baltimore — seven games — than they are the first-place Yankees.
They clearly missed Brandon Lowe and Wander Franco, who are both on the disabled list, and Kevin Kiermaier and Manuel Margot weren't available to start on Friday either, dealing with lower body injuries.
Others need to step up, but it's just not happening, and it continues to waste great pitching efforts.
"It kind of carried over from our last series in New York,'' Cash said. "It was a bounce-back performance for Shane. After the second inning, he got in a good rhythm, and it was great to see him go six innings.''
Baz was shelled for five runs in one inning in his debut last Saturday at Minnesota, so it felt good to get through six innings with no issues. He gave up a one-out double in the first and and infield single in the fifth — and that was it.
Faucher, who came into the game with a 12.60 ERA, hasn't seen many pressure-packed moments like this one, and he said he felt good in the situation.
"I got ahead, I just tried to be a little too cute and they got back in the count and took advantage,'' Faucher said. "With (Rutschman) I was just trying to get ahead. I thought I made a good pitch, but he kept it simple and hit it up the middle.
"I love (that opportunity) because it shows they have confidence in me. I look forward to those opportunities. Going into the game, we used a lot of guys yesterday, so I figured I'd be in there. I just have to do a better job with location.''
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