Cash watched his team get handled in three games./JEFFREY S. KING
Monday, 2 a.m.
Hapless in Seattle?
Well, yeah.
The Tampa Bay Rays were battered for the third consecutive day Sunday, being swept by the Seattle Mariners in a 7-1 loss. For the series, the Rays gave up 28 runs and 38 hits to the Mariners and fell below .500 again. The Mariners won every game by at least six runs.
The Rays only run came in the eighth when Daniel Robertson hit a routine fly ball to center. Mariners' outfielder Jarrod Dyson lost the ball, which bounced off his shoulder
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Ramirez had a tough outing for the Rays.CARMEN MANDATO
and was scored a triple. He scored on a groundout by Jesus Sucre.
The Rays managed only four hits for the day. The Mariners scored the only runs they would need in the first, when Nelson Cruz hit a two-run homer.
“We were beaten from the bottom of the first on Friday til now,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I guess the only good thing is that we're getting out of here. This team, they beat us in every facet. They outpitched us, outhit us, out-defended us , out-managed us. Everything. We need to get back home.
“We didn't catch the ball. We didn't hit. We definitely didn't pitch to our capabilities. When those three go south on you, it's going to be
For a long time, Kiermaier's infield hit was the Rays' only hit ./CARMEN MANDATO
pretty difficult to find a way to win a game. I can't recall too many opportunities when we were even close.”
Tampa Bay's starting pitching suffered throughout the series, with three pitchers lasting only 12 innings. Erasmo Ramirez started Sunday and went only 4 2/3 innings and gave up four runs and seven hits.
At one point in the series, Danny Valencia was nine-for-nine with a walk before fouling out to first baseman Rickie Weeks Jr.
The Rays didn't get a hit until Kevin Kiermaier beat out an infield hit in the fifth inning. That was all Tampa Bay had until the seventh.
Tampa Bay now gets a day off before opening a series at home against the Chicago White Sox. The Rays' Chris Archer pitches against Chicago's José Quintana Tuesday night.
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