Saturday, 4 a.m.
The truth of it is that the Tampa Bay Rays ran out of pitchers long before they got to infielder Mike Brousseau Friday night.
The Rays, plagued with injuries and mounting games, tried to pull off one of their "jigsaw puzzle" games Friday night, but they couldn't keep the Toronto Blue Jays inside the park and took a 12-4 shelling in a game in Buffalo, N.Y.
The Jays hit six home runs (13 in their last two games) to overcome a 3-0 deficit and win going away.
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The Rays started Trevor Richards in an opening role, but Richards gave up four hits and walked three in 4 1/3 innings. That brought on Ryan Thompson, who gave up two earned runs in an inning. Then came Aaron Loup, who gave up three earned runs by the time he got five outs. Then came Jose Alvarado, who needed 30 pitches to complete a third of an inning. He gave up four earned runs.
Brousseau, by comparison, pitched an inning and didn't give up an earned run.
“A couple of bad pitches cost me," Loup said. "It sucks, because we had the lead at the time. It was a pivotal point in the game. Things kind of went downhill from there."
The Rays had come off an offensive explosion against Boston, but couldn't keep up the output against Toronto. They had just one hit after the third inning."
It wasn't just Loup, however.
"It seemed like everyone we pitched struggled tonight," Cash said. "I know the ball carries well here, but it carries for both teams.
"The story of the game was the sixth inning. We batted for 30 minutes and got one run. They batted for four minutes and got five."
The Rays try to right themselves tonight in Buffalo in another game against the Blue Jays. Ryan Yarbrough will start for the Rays against Chase Anderson at 6:37 p.m.