Arroyo hit his first major league home run./JEFFREY S. KING
Saturday, 3 a.m.
Remember that horrible slide with which the Tampa Bay Rays opened this season?
Well, it's back again.
The Rays lost their eighth straight game Friday night, tied for their longest streak of the season. In seven of those games, the Rays haven't even managed a lead. The Rays have led only after four innings during their slide.
The Rays are batting .213 during the losing streak, .163 in with runners in scoring position.
Arroyo bobbled the grounder, but got the out./JEFFREY S. KING
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Gomez hit a foul ball off of his foot./JEFFREY S. KING
“Unfortunately, a little bit more of the same," said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. "The bats went a little bit quiet, and then we put pressure on there in the end, but we have to find ways to score some runs earlier. For whatever reason, this team and this pitching staff for the Mariners has done a really good job against us. We have two games to rectify the situation. Obviously we have some guys that are pressing... one through nine are probably pressing. Everybody is trying to do too much. But, we’ve seen this before, and we’re confident that our guys are going to get out of it.”
Font took the loss for the Rays./JEFFREY S. KING
The Rays, once again, fell behind early as starter Wilmer Font and reliever Matt Andriese each gave up two earned runs in a combined 4 2/3 innings. The Rays gave up two runs on potential double-play balls that were not completed.
“If you look up at the scoreboard at the end of the night, we’re getting our runs, they’re just not coming at the most opportune times," Cash said. "
They’re coming when we’re way behind, a little too far behind. But generally with the offense... I think the way these guys have played, other than the beginning of the year, they’ve stayed out of these big funks. But, we’re probably in one of those right now.”
Cron hit his 14th home run of the season./JEFFREY S. KING
The Rays made it close after a solo home run by Christian Arroyo, his first of the season, and C.J. Cron, his 14th.
“It was special," Arroyo said. "I was just trying to put a good swing on a pitch in the zone. Gonzales had pitched really well all night... he had a really good outing. He has really good stuff and keeps you off balance trying to pitch to both sides of the plate. I mean, it’s always nice to come out with a ‘W,’ so it would have been nicer to win. But yes, it was exciting.”
Arroyo said the team wasn't affected by the losing streak.
You just try and play your game... it’s tough," Arroyo said. "We’ve played some good teams - the Mariners have been on a roll, we played a good
Nuno threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings./JEFFREY S. KING
Nationals team... it’s just kind of part of baseball. We’re going to keep grinding every day and continue to get better, and we know we’ll turn it around. We have good talent here. It’s just one of those things... it’s baseball. There’s a lot of ups and a lot of downs. You just try and ride the wave and stay competitive, and we’ve been playing very competitive. We made a comeback tonight, we made a comeback last night... we’re that one hit away. We’re fine, and we know we’ll be fine."
The Rays have now lost 16 of 25 one-run games. They are 28-34 on the season.
“Obviously we want to win," Cron said. "I think we have been way too inconsistent this year. We win a lot of games and then we lose a lot of games. There’s nothing in between. Seattle has been playing really well. It’s not going to be easy these last two games, but we have to put some runs together and try our best to win a couple of these.”
Blake Snell of the Rays will oppose Felix Hernandez of the Mariners today at 4;10 p.m.
Smith steals second base for the Rays./JEFFREY S. KING
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