Rays Gift-Wrap the Marlins 9-4 Blowout Win in Series Opener Friday

TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays pride themselves on good pitching and solid defense. Neither was anywhere to be found on Friday night in their 9-4 loss to the Miami Marlins at loanDepot Park.

Tampa Bay pitchers allowed a season-high seven walks, and almost all of them turned into runs. Throw in some shoddy defense — especially in Miami's four-run fourth inning that included three walks from starter Taj Bradley — and it was far too much for Bradley and the Rays to overcome.

“Walks didn’t help him, deep pitch counts, and we didn’t make plays behind him that we need to make for him. The one inning kind of unraveled,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "(Third baseman Junior Caminero) needs to make that play and Taj needs to overcome it. We just didn’t, and we let a team create a little traction and they ran with it and scored a bunch of runs.''

Reliever Eric Orze walked a batter in the fifth inning and Mason Montgomery walked two in the sixth, both of whom scored in another four-run Miami inning. Connor Seabold also had a walk late in the game.

“Just falling behind and not being able to reset the count. That is kind of uncharacteristic of us,'' Cash said of the wallks. "We do such a good job usually of being in the zone and staying in the zone. Giving up hits is one thing, but giving up free passes ultimately really was the outcome of the game.’’

Walking seven batters is usually a recipe for disaster, and it certainly was on Friday night. But here's something crazy. In the three other games this year when the Rays walked seven — they won all three against the New York Yankees (April 19, May 4) and Arizona Diamondbacks (April 23).

Bradley just didn't have it, dropping to 3-3 on the season and seeing his ERA spike to 4.80. He only lasted four innings, his shortest start since last September, and he gave up five runs on six hits and three walks. All three walks came in the fourth inning when Miami scored four times to take a 5-1 lead. The Rays also had two plays at first base that could have been outs, which extended the inning. All four runs scored after the miscues.

"I just didn't attack the zone at all, threw too many off speeds for balls that they were taking,'' Bradley said in the somber Rays locker room. "I just need to make better pitches. Mainly, I was just being nit picky around the zone with the off-speeds.

"I think very much so (it was uncharactistic of the Rays to walk seven batters). Like I said, usually we attack the zone with all our pitches. When I got into that bases-loaded jam. I was just nitpicking around the zone trying to create soft contact when I should have just been attacking,’’

The Rays could have been out of that fourth inning unscathed if they had been crisper defensively. Caminero's throw to first pulled Jonathan Aranda off the bag, but the play was generously ruled an infield hit instead of an error. And on a potential double play ball, shortstop Jose Caballero's throw to Bradley covering first didn't get completed, with Bradley dropping the ball as he neared first base.

"I just didn't have good footing on the bag,'' Bradley said.

Tampa Bay worked their way back into the game with three runs in the fifth inning. Kameron Misner led off with a single, then Caballero drove him in with a double. Chandler Simpson, who had three hits on the night, then drove in Caballero on an infield single and a throwing error. Josh Lowe, in his second game back from an oblique injury, then singled in Simpson to make it 5-4.

But then the Rays bullpen, which has been shaky of late, imploded. Montgomery walked his first two batters, and both scored on singles by Kyle Stowers and Eric Wagaman, with a throwing error on Misner in the mix as well. A sacrifice fly and infield single made it 9-4.

It was a frustating loss for the Rays, who had just won twice in Toronto with some solid play. They are now 20-24 on the season and fell six games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East.

"Yeah, we always put the work in and we've been known for being a good defensive team. And in those situations, I feel like sometimes it just doesn't go our way,'' Caballero said. "We did everything right in the double play that you mentioned, and the ball just dropped. It's nobody's fault. It's just the ball just dropped. He was there, I threw the ball, and we couldn't make that out.

"(Caminero's ball) it's a tough play as well. He did what he could. The momentum is taking him toward home plate and the ball tends to follow our bodies, and that's what happened. It's just those things we need to shore up in the innings whenever they're not going our way, and we didn't do it today, that's all.''

The Rays were 13-8 in interleague games coming into Friday and 9-2 in their past 11 road games. They'll need to bounce back on Saturday. Drew Rasmussen (1-4, 3.38 ERA) gets the start for Tampa Bay and Sandy Alcantara (2-5, 8.10 ERA) starts for Miami. First pitch is at 4:10 p.m. ET.

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