Faria finally had a start that wasn't quality./CARMEN MANDATO
Thursday, 2 a.m.
Jake Faria, the Quality Kid, is human, after all.
Faria suffered his first defeat of the year, and his first non-quality start, as the Rays fell 7-2 to the Oakland A's. It was the second straight series the Rays didn't take advantage of a chance to sweep in the final game.
Faria, who had quality starts in his first seven games, gave up six hits, four walks and two wild pitches in the loss. He was staked to a 2-0 lead early, but he surrendered all four of his runs in the fifth inning.
Content beyond this point is for members only.
Already a member? To view the rest of this column, sign in using the handy "Sign In" button located in the upper right corner of the GarySheltonSports.com blog (it's at the far right of the navigation bar under Gary's photo)!
Not a member? It's easy to subscribe so you can view the rest of this column and all other premium content on GarySheltonSports.com.
X-Rays were negative, but Souza will have more tests today./CARMEN MANDATO
“How many hitters did I fall behind?” Faria said.“Eventually, it's going to catch up to anyone. My change-up was inconsistent. It was all building up to that point.”
The Rays suffered another hip injury in the game when Steve Souza Jr.'s foot caught while sliding into second. Souza remained optimistic that the injury wasn't severe.
“I've never gone into a major league base and had my leg stick like that,” Souza Jr. said, referring to the infield as “muddy.”
Longoria had two more hits for the Rays./CARMEN MANDATO
The Rays struggled to get an offense going against Oakland pitcher Sonny Gray. Evan Longoria, Corey Dickerson, Logan Morrison and Brad Miller all had two hits, but the Rays were one-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
“I don't look at this as a down,” said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. “Today, we got beat. Their pitching staff held us to two runs.”
The Rays head home six games over .500. After taking a day off, the Rays play Friday night against the Texas Rangers when Alex Cobb pitches against Yu Darvish.
Dickerson had two more hits for the Rays./JEFFREY S. KING
{ 0 comments… read it below or Subscriptions }