Saturday, 4 a.m.
Wait. Don’t tell me. Where have we seen this before.
Oh, yeah.
It was here. Two days ago. Nothing then, nothing now.
The Tampa Bay Rays lost a 1-0 game for the second time in three days Friday night. This time, it was to the New York Yankees, who extended the Rays’ losing streak to four straight.
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Wednesday night, the Rays struck out 13 times. Friday, they struck 15 times.
On Wednesday, the Rays were 0-4 with runners in scoring position. Friday, they were 0-6.
The Rays had five hits on Wednesday. They had three on Friday.
And so it went. Once again, the Rays wasted a strong start by Drew Rasmussen, who gave up just three hits and one run in his 5 2/3 innings of work. On the other hand, Carlos Rodon gave up two hits and no runs in his six innings. Rodon struck out nine.
The question is whether the offensive problems are starting to make the Rays press a bit. Consider the seventh inning, when Jonathan Aranda led off the inning with a double. He tried to stretch it to a triple, however, and was thrown out.
The Rays are now 8-12 on the season.
The Rays and Yankees play today at 4:10 p.m. at Steinbrenner Field. Shane Baz will start for the Rays against Carlos Carrasco.
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