The Rays, still contending, are playing at home, where they've been successful. They're playing the Kansas City Royals, the last-place team of the AL Central Division. They're facing former teammate Michael Wacha, who had lost seven straight games. They held the Royals to four hits and retired the last 14 hitters they faced,.
And their own bats go to sleep.
The Rays struggled mightily against the Royals and Wacha Monday night, losing 2-1. It was another attempt by the Rays to get a streak going. Instead, they are 8-17 in their last 25 games.
It happens with the Rays on occasion. Take Tuesday night. The Rays were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and struck out eight times.
The Rays had just six hits, two of them by Chandler Simpson. Yandy Diaz drove in the team's only run with a fifth-inning double.
The Rays and Royals play again tonight at 6:40 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Shane McClanahan (6-4) will start for the Rays against Luinder Avila (2-3).
The Tampa Bay Rays may be blowing their biggest chance of the summer.
The opportunity to get back into the race was at hand. They had a 10-game homestand. Their schedule was packed with beatable foes.
Instead, the air continues to drain from their balloon.
The Rays lost again Tuesday night. They were clobbered by the last-place Kansas City Royals, 12-5 at Tropicana Field. It was their third loss in four games for the fading Rays.
It was the team's 13 loss its last 20 games, its 18th in its last 26.
In the last two months, the Rays have lost two series to the Orioles, two to the Angels, to the Tigers, to the Marlins and are down 2-0 to the Royals.
The Royals looked strong against the Rays, scoring two in the fisrst, four in the fifth and five in the eighth for their easy win. It was 11-1 at one point.
Nick Lofton had four hits for Baltimore and Jac Caglianone had three, including two home runs for Kansas City.
Junior Caminero had three hits for the Rays and Jonathan Aranda had two. Caminero had his 16th home run.
The Royals got to Shane McClanahan for six runs in six innings, although only two were earned. The Rays have lost four of his last five starts,
The Rays try again to beat the Royals tonight at 6:40 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Griffin Jax (2-5) will start for the Rays against Noah Cameron (4-4).
DeLuca, making his return from the injured list, homered for the second time in three games. He launched a two-run shot in the bottom of the seventh inning, bringing the Rays from behind and leading the Rays to a 4-3 win over Washington at Tropicana Field.
DeLuca, who missed almost two months with a hamstring injury, led the Rays back from a 3-1 deficit.
The Rays again squandered opportunities. They were just one-for-six with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. But the homer from DeLuca and another from Randy Vilade helped the Rays rally to capture the series.
DeLuca and Yandy Diaz each had two hits for the Rays.
Nick Martinez went six innings and allowed three runs. Grant Cleavinger got the win for the Rays. Kevin Kelly got the save.
The Rays are home tonight against Kansas City at 6;40 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Drew Rasmussen (6-3) will start for the Rays against Michael Wacha (4-5).
The Rays offense left repeated scoring chances go by the wayside in Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Washington National. In a one-run loss -- their seventh in their last eight one-run games -- it was toxic.
Consider:
-- The Rays had 10 hits and six walks in the game. But they left 11 runners on base, hit into two double plays and were thrown out going to second on an overthrow.
-- The Rays were just three-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
-- They loaded the bases in the first (only one run scored), loaded them in the second (no runs) and had three runners on in the third (one run).
The Rays ended up getting three hits from Junior Caminero and two from Yandy Diaz and Chander Simpson.
Caminero had a tough time, however, in the seventh. He reached on an infield single and turned when the ball was thrown wildly. He said later he was mistaken and thought the ball was thrown out of play. It wasn't, robbing the Rays of a situation with runners on second and third.
Ian Seymour took the loss for the Rays, going five innings but allowing three earned runs. Dylan Crews hit the game-clinching home run in the ninth.
The Rays are 1-1 in their 10-game homestand.
The Rays and Senators play again today at 1:40 p.m. at Tropicana. Nick Martinez (6-2) will start for the Rays against Andrew Alvarez (1-0).
Saturday, 4 a.m. Maybe it was being home. More likely, it was the home runs. The Tampa Bay Rays, comfortable at home after a terrible (1-5) road trip, came from behind to beat the Washington Nationals, 5-2, at Tropicana Field. The Rays, who have won 25 games at home this year, relied on the long […]
Thursday, 4 a.m. Wherever the cure for the sliding Tampa Bay Rays is, we can be sure it isn’t in Los Angeles. Yeah, the Rays lost again Wednesday afternoon. That isn’t new. The Rays fell for the fifth time in six games in L.A. The Rays, now 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the […]
Wednesday, 4 a.m. Maybe Drew Rasmussen should sue for non-support, Rasmussen, the pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays, was impressive once again Tuesday night. On the other hand, the Rays left their bats in hibernation. They were tamed by Dodgers pitcher Justin Wrobleski. The Rays managed just three hits in a 1-0 loss to the […]
Tuesday, 4 a.m. During their recent slide in the American League, you can add this to the list of woes of the Tampa Bay Rays. They’re having trouble holding onto a lead. The Rays, 6-13 in their last 19 games, saw an early lead painfully whittled down in a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles […]
Monday, 4 a.m. There for a while, he was the incredible shrinking superstar. Oh, no one doubted the ability of Junior Caminero. But as he walked toward the plate, he was mired in a 1-11 slump. In his most recent seven-plus games, he was 4-31 as the Rays’ season spun out of control. The Rays […]
Sunday, 4 a.m. The fall continues. Suddenly, they are a rock in water. They are a detached piece of a UFO falling to earth. They are a diver plummeting toward the pool surface. They are the second-place Tampa Bay Rays, and they cannot stop the plunge. The Rays fell behind the New York Yankees in […]
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About Gary Shelton
• No one covers Tampa Bay like Gary Shelton.
• No one has seen as many moments, as many athletes, as many coaches as he has over the last quarter of a century.
• No one has won more awards, including two national Associated Press Sports Editors Best Columnist awards and eight top 10 finishes. He also just received his sixth Sportswriter of the Year award for Florida by the NSSA.
• No one has seen more big events, including 29 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics and 11 Final Fours. Gary still goes into the locker rooms to obtain his stories.
• No one has made you angrier, or laugh louder, or think harder about what he has written.
Now, he begins a website designed to keep him in touch with the readers who have grown up on his words.
