Don't you hate when your local professional baseball team forgets how to play the game?
The Tampa Bay Rays seemed to be cruising along Tuesday when a nightmarish fifth inning struck them. They gave up a 1-0 lead and fell apart in a 4-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
Over seven batters, the Rays were hardly the best team in the American League. They gave up a two-strike single. They let a pop-up fall harmlessly to the turf. They commited an error. They were called for a balk. They gave up a home run.
That, combined with an anemic offense, caused their downfall. The Rays scored just once, that coming in the fourth inning when the Rays loaded the bases with one out. Jonny DeLuca's infield single brought home Junior Caminero, but both Richie Palacious and Keven Walls struck out and no more damage was done.
Besides the three hits in that inning, the Rays had only two more against the Tigers. Caminero and Liam Hicks each had two of the hits.
Detroit starter Jackson Jobe was only 1-1 with a 4.56 ERA coming into the game, but he controlled the Rays.
Tampa Bay started Casey Legumina, who allowed just one hit in two and a third innings. Ian Seymour came in and allowed four runs in five and two-third innings.
The Rays and Tigers play again today at 1;10 p.m. at Comerica Park. Freddy Peralta (5-11) will start for the Rays against Troy Melton (7-2).
Is there any way for the Tampa Bay Rays to go to a two-man rotation.
One day after Nick Martinez fashioned a 3-1 victory over Baltimore, teammate Drew Rasmussen threw a gem of his own in a 4-1 win over Detroit.
Martinez allowed just one hit in six innings for his 13th win. Rasmussen allowed three in six innings for his 14th. As a result, the Rays have a mini-streak of two straight wins after a rough patch.
The Rays scored two runs in the top of the first when Junior Caminero and Jonathan Aranda both brought home runs on ground outs.
Chandler Simpson brought in a run with a bunt single in the fourth. Aranda hit his 16th home run in the sixth.
Aranda hit his 16th homer./KIM HUKARI
Jonny DeLuca had two hits for the Rays.
Bryan Baker recorded his 38th save by working a scoreless ninth.
The Rays lead the AL East by three and a half games over the Yankees and six games over the Red Sox.
The Rays and Tigers play again tonight at 6:40 at Comerica Park. Ian Seymour (9-4) will start for the Rays against Jackson Jobe (1-1).
If the Tampa Bay Rays are going to hold onto the American League East lead, it will take pitching performances like this.
Nick Martinez, stopper, threw six innings of shutout, one-hit baseball Sunday to lead the Rays to a 3-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Although the Rays are in first place in the division and the Orioles are last, the Orioles had won nine of the previous 10 meetings between the teams.
Martinez made sure that didn't happen again. Martinez gave up only a double to Colton Cowser and improved his record to 13-4.
Bryan Baker gave up a solo homer in the ninth to Cowser for the O's only run. Baker recorded his 37th save.
Simpson upped his average to .310./KIM HUKARI
If the Rays are going to hold on in the AL East, they will need more innings like their sixth on Sunday against former teammate Shane Baz. After two men were out, the Rays strung together four hits, a walk and a wild pitch to score three times. Junior Caminero and Chandler SImpson had run-scoring singles.
Simpson had two hits on the day.
The Rays still have leads of three games over the Yankees and six over the Red Sox in the division race.
The Rays now travel to Detroit to play the Tigers at Comercia Field tonight at 6:40. Drew Rasmussen (13-5) will start for the Rays against Framber Valdez (8-8).
Five outs away, and the tumbling Tampa Bay Rays still could not seal the deal.
The Rays lost yet again to the Baltimore Orioles Saturday at Camden Yards. Tampa Bay has lost eight of its last nine games to the Orioles, still the last-place team in the AL East.
This one must have been difficult to absorb. The Rays led 2-0 with one out in the eighth and lost. They got five, four-hit shutout innings from Shane McClanahan and lost. They had a chance go ahead in the 10th inning with Taylor Walls trying to bunt in a runner from third -- one of their favorite plays -- only to have Richie Palacios thrown out at home. And they lost 3-2.
And they lost. They now lead the Yankees by just three games and the Red Sox by just six and a half. They are 3-7 in their last 10 games.
McClanahan was solid for 5 innings./KIM HUKARI
McClanahan was sharp, but he threw 74 pitches after his recent injury and was pulled.
Kevin Kelly gave up a two-run homer to Samuel Bassallo in the eighth to tie the game. In the 10th, Dylan Beavers doubled home Leody Taveras with the winning run off of Bryan Baker.
Liam Hicks had a homer for the Rays. Yandy Diaz each and Jonny DeLuca each had two hits.
The and Orioles play again today at 1:35 p.m. Nick Martinez (12-4) will start for the Rays against Shane Baz (4-13).
Sunday, 3 a.m. Two games in, and the question about Jalon Daniels deserves an update: Is this guy going to settle for the No. 3 spot on the depth chart, or is he aiming even higher. Daniels, an undrafted rookie, was the star for the second straight week in Saturday night’s 16-15 preseason victory over […]
Saturday, 4 a.m. So far, he is not exactly the cavalry. So far, Freddy Peralta is just one disappointment in a clubhouse filled with them. The Tampa Bay Rays continued their slide back toward the rest of the AL East Friday night, losing a 5-3 game to a Baltimore team that has had their number. […]
Friday, 4 a.m. Remind yourself: they remain in first place. They are 25 games above .500. They have won the third-most games in the major leagues. On the other hand, man, are they playing lousy baseball. The Rays lost their sixth game in the last eight Thursday, falling 5-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays. It […]
Thursday, 4 a.m. This is what Bryan Baker does. He closes. He smothers hope. He nails doors shut. He shuts off hope. He makes winning scores stand up. Baker saved his 36h game Wednesday night, making a 7-6 score stand up against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Rays led 7-1 after four innings, but the […]
Wednesday, 4 a.m. The bad news is in: The late-season tumble of the Tampa Bay Rays is not yet over. Where they land, nobody knows. The Rays dropped their fourth game in five tries Tuesday night, getting clobbered by Toronto 10-5 at Tropicana Field. The Rays have been worn out this week by Baltimore and […]
Tuesday, 4 a.m. When the turmoil ended, perhaps you thought it would be because of a deep home run. Maybe a double off the wall. Maybe a ball delivered into the deep gap. Instead, it was a bounding grounder off the bat of pinch-hitter Jonny DeLuca. DeLuca, hitting for catcher Liam Hicks with the bases […]
Gary Shelton Sports is a subscription site. The following options are available:
• Buy a season ticket ($4 a month).
• Splurge on a club seat ($24 a year).
• Or go all in with a skybox ($54 for three years, which is only $1.50 a month).
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.
