ST. PETERSBURG — There’s still something not right about the Rays.
They can’t hit left-handed pitching.
Wednesday was the Rays’ fifth game against a lefty starter, and the fifth they’ve lost, this time 5-0 to the Red Sox and Martin Perez.
It didn’t help, of course, that Tampa Bay’s own lefty starter, Ryan Yarbrough, had a rough outing, allowing a pair of two-run homers.
And the result was all that good feeling from Tuesday, when Austin Meadows returned to the lineup and the Rays snapped a five-game losing streak, didn’t carry over one bit, as they were shut out for the first time.
The Rays are 5-7 heading into a weekend series of four games in three days against the 9-2 and AL East-leading Yankees, and the urgency of a 60-game season might soon be readily apparent.
“We know we have to step it up, we know we have to figure it out because they’ve been playing good,” shortstop Willy Adames said. “It’s going to be a good series for us. We have to figure it out. We have to compete. We have to come ready to win. We have to figure out a way to get back to where we were last year and try to have fun. We have to figure out that little thing that is missing right now and we’re going to be good.”
The list of left-handers the Rays have faced is not particularly impressive, which could make the results even more concerning.
Toronto’s Hyun Jin Ryu was an NL All-Star and a Cy Young Award finalist in 2019 with the Dodgers, and Atlanta’s Max Fried is a rising star. But the last three they have faced — Baltimore’s Wade LeBlanc and Tommy Milone, and Boston’s Martin Perez — are journeymen with pedestrian stuff.
Manager Kevin Cash said his team at least had a better approach Wednesday.
“We felt different. We put ourselves in hitter’s counts, we just didn’t get it done when we got pitches to hit,” Cash said. “There were guys on base to where we could’ve put together some bigger innings, but he made pitches, and we didn’t have much to show for it otherwise.
“But there’s no doubt there’s reason for concern. We’re gonna face a lot of lefties this year, and we gotta have overall better approaches, team approaches.”
The Rays felt they were well equipped to handle left-handed starters this season, having added righty hitters Hunter Renfroe, Jose Martinez and Manuel Margot (who missed this series) to a group that included Yandy Diaz, Willy Adames and Mike Zunino, and a couple of lefties who usually handle themselves well, such as Brandon Lowe and Meadows.
Though, it should be noted, the Rays moved three of their top right-handed hitters from last season, trading Tommy Pham and allowing Travis d’Arnaud and Avisail Garcia to leave as free agents.
They have not been among the best offensive teams overall, hitting .211 overall with a .303 on-base percentage. So, obviously, their numbers to this point against lefties are concerning, hitting .219 with a .288 on-base percentage.
The Rays had some opportunities Wednesday, getting the leadoff man on in each of the first four innings, and a runner at some point in each of the first seven, but not converting. They logged just four hits total, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
“I think we’re trying to do too much sometimes,” Martinez said. “We’ve just got to put it together as a group, go out there with a plan and just try to come through.”
The biggest waste came in the fourth. Martinez led off with a double, and Renfroe walked. But Mike Brosseau popped out, Lowe lined out and Adames — after a drive just foul down the leftfield line — swung and missed at a 90 mph cutter for strike three.
“I thought I had it at first,” Adames said. “It was really close. It just didn’t go our way today. It hasn’t been our way the whole week.”
Yarbrough had been the Rays’ most consistent starter in his first two outings and had the crispest stuff. But he was not as sharp Wednesday, working around hits in each of the first three innings, then allowing some costly ones,
With two outs in the fourth, he gave up a single to Michael Chavis and, two pitches later, a homer to lefty Alex Verdugo on a curve that didn’t break much. Still, it was only 2-0.
There was more trouble in the sixth. Xander Bogaerts led off with a double, Christian Vazquez delivered an RBI single and Chavis homered to left-center, knocking over one of the newly placed fan cutouts in the stands.
“It just escalated a little quickly,” Yarbrough said. “Frustrating to have those first five innings, kind of giving your team a chance to win and kind of not helping yourself in the sixth.”
The Rays remain confident they will make things right.
The Link LonkAugust 06, 2020 at 08:57AM
https://www.tampabay.com/sports/rays/2020/08/05/little-goes-right-as-rays-get-shut-out-by-boston-red-sox/
Little goes right as Rays get shut out by Boston Red Sox - Tampa Bay Times
https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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