Silent Bats Again Doom Rays in Meek 3-0 Loss To Rangers on Tuesday

Tampa Bay has had success against Texas starter Martin Perez is the past, but the Rays had no answer for him Tuesday, getting only three harmless singles in a quiet 3-0 loss to the Rangers at Globe Life Field. It's the second straight loss for the Rays.

ARLINGTON, Texas — You can't win if you don't score. That's been a simple baseball premise for decades now, and the Tampa Bay Rays proved it again Tuesday night when all they could muster were three lonely singles in a 3-0 to the Texas Rangers.

It was the second straight loss in Texas on this quick road trip, and with the loss, the Rays ended May with a 28-21 record. The Rangers, who have been red-hot in May, are now 24-24, the first time they've been at .500 or better since Sept. 12, 2019.

Tampa Bay struggled all night to figure out Rangers starter Martin Perez. He came into the game with the lowest earned run average in the American League, but he was also 2-6 all-time against the Rays.

Present outweighed the past, with only Yandy Diaz, Taylor Walls and Francisco Mejia getting hits. Pérez, who dropped his American League-leading earned run average to 1.42, threw seven innings, striking out five.

It looked like his night might end early. In the second inning, Walls hit a hard line drive right back at Pérez, and it hit him in the shin. After shaking off the direct hit for a few for a minutes, Perez stayed in the game — and retired 16 Rays batters in a row. 

“It got me on the leg and I think it put me on a different mode,” Pérez said. “It was my time to show up and do it for the guys.”

Rangers reliever John King worked a scoreless eighth and Joe Barlow worked the ninth for his ninth save. Rangers pitching didn't allow a base runner after the second inning.

The Rays are catching the Rangers at a bad time. They just finished May with a 17-10 record, the third-best month in the AL. This was also their sixth straight home win, their longest streak since moving into Globe Life Park in 2020.

"When we get over .500 I think that will be a weight off," Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. "Now you have to sustain it. If you have to walk before you run, then we started the season scooting or crawling. Now we're building into a walk and hopefully we can get into a sprint."

The only runs in the game all came in the bottom of the fourth, when Rays starter Ryan Yarbrough got hit hard. He gave up a home run to Rangers shortstop Corey Seager to lead off the inning. It was Seager's  11th home run this season — the Rays have no one with more than six homers. 

Mitch Garver then followed that with a double off the wall in left field. Two batters later, Adolis García launched a 440-foot home run to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead.

Yarbrough pitched a season-high 6 2/3 innings, and was tough outside of the fourth. He allowed only one baserunner in the first three innings, five days after throwing five innings of no-hit ball against the Yankees.

But that one inning was enough for the Rangers, especially with the Rays never threatening to score. 

“Perez was outstanding,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Looking back at his pitches, he executed well and had a lot of late life and a lot of late action in the zone and then add the fact that he was just pitching to the edges all night with every batter. 

"He was really on, and really executing. Even when we hit a ball off of his shin, that didn’t derail him. We’ve been quiet of late and we’ve got to turn it around. I’m confident that we will.’’

Kevin Cash talks after the @RaysBaseball fall to the Rangers about the Rangers pitching, Ryan Yarbrough, the offensive slump and more. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/8y6Ni9NrNJ

— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) June 1, 2022

Shawn Armstrong, who was called up from Triple-A Durham on Tuesday after shortstop Wander Franco was placed on the injured, made his season debut for the Rays. He faced six batters and allowed a hit and a walk, but didn't allow any runs and struck out three.

Armstrong pitched with the Rays late last season, but signed with Miami in the offseason. He was released in early May by the Marlins, and the Rays scooped him back up, He pitched seven innings in Durham before his call-up, allowing just two earned runs.

The two teams meet again on Wednesday night, with Jeffrey Springs pitching for the Rays. The series wraps up on Thursday afternoon, with Corey Kluber taking the mound for Tampa Bay.

The Rays also lost the first two games of their four-game series with the Yankees over the weekend, and bounced back to win the last two games to split the series. That's the goal again now in Arlington.

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