Wednesday, 4 a.m.
There for a while, Edwin Uceta looked like the find of the year. He was effective, he was bold, he was nearly flawless.
Then came Tuesday night.
And the world caught up.
Uceta was unable to slow down the Philadelphia Phillies, who scored five runs in the eighth inning — two of them were changed to Richard Lovelady, the others to Uceta — as the Phillies ended up with an impressive 9-5 win over Tampa Bay.
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Uceta entered the game with two runners on, but he gave up two doubles a homer, a single and a hit batsman over the six batters he faced. A tight game was blown away, and the Rays fell to three games under .500.
The Rays had one of their rare offensive nights, getting 13 hits and four walks. But they were in a hole early, as Taj Bradley gave up four runs in his first three innings. Bradley has given up too many home runs, and once again, he gave up two, pushing his total to 43 in hid 45 games. He’s given up 10 in his last six games.
The Rays tied the game at 4-4 in the sixth on Christopher Morel’s triple with one out. But the eighth doomed them. It was the second straight loss by the bullpen,
For the night, Junior Caminero had three hits. Morel and Josh Lowe each had two. Despite their 13-hit total, the Rays were just three-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
The Rays and Phillies play again tonight at 6:40 p.m. Shane Baz will
start for the Rays against Zack Wheeler.