Rays manager Kevin Cash made his feelings known before Saturday night’s game, noting the need for more work and accountability on defense, citing a of number of players putting too much pressure on themselves, asserting, somewhat grumpily, “We’re a better club than the way we’ve performed.’'
Shortstop Willy Adames showed his frustration with a dugout outburst after the fifth inning, in which he made his fourth error in eight games, the Fox Sports Sun camera showing him smacking the glove which failed him repeatedly against the top of the bench and flicking his hat to the ground.
At some point, the Rays need to do something about their poor play.
Saturday night’s 5-4, 11-inning loss to the lowly Orioles (4-3) was their fourth straight, all coming on the road trip to Atlanta and Baltimore that they’ll be happy to see end Sunday. And it makes that majors-best and franchise-record tying 4-1 start seem like a distant memory.
Sure, they’ve only played nine games, which sounds like it’s still early. But they’re only playing 60, which means it seems like it’s already getting late. And that’s 60 at most, given the current spread of the coronavirus throughout the league.
Does it count for something that the Rays at least made it close Saturday, coming back from a 4-1 deficit in the eighth, before losing it in the 11h?
Cash said on a Zoom video call from Baltimore that it did. “We’ve got to find a way to pull some positives here, we finally put together a pretty good inning, an exciting inning, where we pieced it together and came back from a 4-1 deficit.”
And that it didn’t. “No different than (Friday) night, frustration. … At the end of the day we’ve got to find ways to start winning some games.”
The end was tough.
Bad baserunning decisions by Ji-Man Choi, trying to move up to third on a fly to left, and Kevin Kiermaier, getting doubled off second, thwarted the Rays’ chances to score in the 10th or the 11th..
Then the Orioles’ winning run scored on a two-out, two-strike opposite-field single by Pat Valaika off a Chaz Roe slider. That scored Bryan Holaday, who started the inning at second under the new 2020 extra-inning rules, went to third on a bunt and scored after an intentional walk and a strikeout.
“Thought it was enough outside but he was able to get enough of the bat on it to squeak it over us,” Roe said. “A weak hit ball that found a hole.”
Cash said both baserunning mistakes obviously were costly and maybe a result of guys pressing.
“We talk about not giving extra outs on the bases,” he said. “I get it. The intensity is up, the pressure is probably mounting, adding, you know, day-by-day, inning-by-inning that we’re not getting it done. We got guys that really care a lot and want to do a lot, and sometimes that doesn’t always work in our favor.”
Kiermaier, who has had an eventful week with mistakes in three previous games, delivered the biggest hit of the night, singling in the tying run in the eighth — after singles by Joey Wendle and Jose Martinez, a throwing error on Yandy Diaz’s grounder, a Yoshi Tsutsugo walk and Brandon Lowe’s hustle in preventing a double play set them up.
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"%20viewBox="0%200%203483%201959"/%3E)
But getting doubled off second to end the top of 11th when Holaday, playing first, snared Manuel Margot’s liner, was a bad move.
“I made an aggressive call right there on my part knowing where the (defenders) were and of course Manny hits it right to the guy and it didn’t work in our favor right there,” Kiermaier said. “That’s just kind of how it’s been for us lately, not a whole lot going for us.”
The Rays offense that scored 33 runs in winning four of five games at Tropicana Field still didn’t do enough, making for a total of 12 runs in the first four games of the trip. The defense was again shaky: Adames’ error their AL-most 10th, plus catcher Mike Zunino logged his third passed ball. Starter Tyler Glasnow looked both good and bad over a 4 2/3-inning, 88-pitch outing. And Trevor Richards didn’t provide the needed relief, a leadoff walk in the sixth leading to two more runs.
Also of note: Since the start of the 2018 season, the Rays are 10-12 at Camden Yards, while all other visiting teams are a combined 101-43.
Glasnow got off a sizzling start, retiring the first five Orioles in order, with a fastball averaging 97.9 mph. He then walked the bases loaded but didn’t allow a run, and followed up the 30-pitch second with a four-pitch third. But he got in more trouble in the fourth, allowing a leadoff homer to Renato Nunez, a single to Dwight Smith Jr. and, after a steal and a runner-advancing fly out, an RBI single to Rio Ruiz.
When his night ended with two outs in the fifth, he’d thrown 89 pitches, allowed the two runs on three hits and three walks, striking out five.
“Overall,” Glasnow said, “I would say very inconsistent.”
Sounds about right.
"lose" - Google News
August 02, 2020 at 09:05AM
https://ift.tt/39Zzcd3
Rays lose again, 5-4 to the Orioles in 11 innings - Tampa Bay Times
"lose" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3fa3ADu https://ift.tt/2VWImBB
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Rays lose again, 5-4 to the Orioles in 11 innings - Tampa Bay Times"
Post a Comment