The Rays' new closer? Jesus Sucre finished on the mound for the Rays./CARMEN MANDATO
Tuesday, 3 a.m.
It was so bad that the Rays' last relief pitcher was a catcher.
It was so bad that the Rays' had two hits going into the eighth inning.
It was so bad that the Rays lost by a football score.
Yeah, it was painful, all right. The Rays lost, 14-7, and gave up 17 hits to the Houston Astros, the American League's best team. The Astros were playing without star performers George Springer and Carlos Correa, and it didn't matter.
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Dickerson had two home runs in Rays' defeat./JEFFREY S. KING
With the loss, the Rays remained 2 ½ games behind Kansas City, but they were tied by Seattle in the standings. Both teams are 54-53.
Tampa Bay has won only three of its last 12 games.
How bad was it? It was so bad the Rays raised a white flag at the end, sending backup catcher Jesus Sucre out to pitch the ninth inning (he gave up three runs) in order to save the team's bullpen.
“If it had gotten to 11-7, I would have used Boxberger for another inning,” Rays' manager Kevin Cash said.
The Rays trailed 11-2 after five innings. Starting pitcher Alex Cobb had a rough night, giving up nine hits in three innings. The Astros scored eight earned runs off of him.
“Alex just didn't have it,” Cash said. “He couldn't quite command the baseball. He was just missing over the plate, and they didn't miss anything. Alex has been good for us. Maybe a short 65-70 pitch outing will do him some good.”
Cobb had a rough night against the Astros./CARMEN MANDATO
Cash indicated he might have replaced Sucre with Taylor Featherstone if the game had gone any longer.
For the Astros, the game played like a highlight tape. Houston got two home runs and a double from No. 9 hitter Jake Marisnick, who also drove in five runs.
For Tampa Bay, leftfielder Corey Dickerson hit two home runs. Lucas Duda hit his third home run in four games since arriving via trade.
Charlie Morton got the win for the Astros, giving up two hits over six innings.
In other Rays' news, the team traded Tim Beckham to Baltimore for a minor leaguer. The move was designed to free up playing time for Brad Miller.
The teams play again tonight at 8:10 p.m. in Houston when Chris Archer pitches against Mike Fiers.
Rays want Brad Miller to play second base full time./CARMEN MANDATO
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