Saturday, 4 a.m.
Are the Baltimore Orioles trying to replace the Tampa Bay Rays, a regular visitor to the post-season the last few years?
Or are the Rays trying to replace the Orioles, who have been a lost franchise playing out the string?
In the latest contest between two teams headed in the opposite direction, the Orioles walloped the Rays on Friday night. Baltimore won 10-3 to take over the third wild card slot in the American League and knock the Rays to fourth place in the AL East.
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It was a relentless assault, one in which the O's piled up 19 hits to win going away. Pitcher Austin Voth, released by the Nationals this year (the Washington Post wondered what took so long), no-hit the Rays into the sixth inning. Jorge Mateo had five hits for Baltimore.
The Rays are now 11-42 in games in which they’ve scored three runs or fewer. They had just five hits for the night, and two of their runs came on a homer by Randy Arozarena.
"We've got to somehow find a way to get out of this a little bit," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "It’s not coming easy for anybody. It was encouraging that Randy hit the ball. It just shows you how strong he is that he was out in front and takes that type of swing and it carries out, but we've got to do more. The guys know that. Hopefully, that thing turns around."
The Rays are 7-12 since the all-star break, which leads one to wonder if their injuries are fully catching up with them now.
The Orioles jumped on Rays' starter Corey Kluber, getting 10 hits and seven earned runs in 5.1 innings.
"I thought Corey was really good through five," Cash said. "It snowballed a little bit where his pitch count got to 80 or 90. I don’t think the seven runs was reflective of how he pitched the entire ballgame."
The Rays remain in the wild-card chase, of course, but they have just a half-game lead on Minnesota and two games on the Chicago White Sox.
The Rays and Orioles play again today at 4:40 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Shane McClanahan will pitch for the Rays against a yet-to-be announced starter for Baltimore.