Friday, 4 a.m.
Can someone bring back the Baltimore Orioles please?
The Tampa Bay Rays were savaged once again Thursday afternoon, absorbing a 6-3 defeat at the hands of the Oakland A's that was the team’s third loss in four games. The only game the Rays won was a 10-inning, come from behind victory.
The bashing was an early cause for concern among the Rays, whose pitching staff is injured and whose team seems out of sync.
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In the series, the Rays:
— Allowed 31 runs in four games.
— Gave up 34 hits.
— Walked 19 batters.
— Committed four errors.
— Didn’t have a pitcher reach the fifth inning in any game.
Against the Rays, the As looked like one of the elite teams in the majors. They are not. Still, the Rays struggled.
The lowlight moment of Thursday’s game when Cristian Poche singled up the middle with two runners on. Randy Arozarena cut in front of centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier, but kicked the ball to the fence. All three runners scored.
“A fairly unique play took place.” Rays’ manager Kevin Cash said. “We’ve got two defenders who are elite at covering ground. They just got tangled up. Randy, the ball hit off his foot or leg, and the ball ricocheted. It was kind of a messed-up play from the beginning.”
In 3 1/3 innings, Josh Fleming gave up seven hits and three earned runs.
“Flem did some good things and he had some pitches he’d like to have back,” Cash said. “.Ultimately, the A’s did a nice job of making an adjustment to him after seeing what he was featuring and finding plenty of holes to spray hits all over the ballpark.”
The Rays now go to Chicago to play series against the White Sox and then visit the Cubs. In tonight’s game (7:10 p.m.), Drew Rasmussen will start against Dylan Cease.