Snell lasted only one inning in defeat./STEVE MUNCIE
Wednesday, 4 a.m.
And so a season dies young.
For the Tampa Bay Rays, futilely chasing for much of the last few weeks, it was a slow death, painful in its makeup, sudden in its ending. The pulse stopped Tuesday night in a 6-1 defeat to the New York Yankees, a season that will be remembered for a hitting attack that faded in and out and a starting pitching staff that did not measure up.
With five games to go, the Rays are five games under .500 (76-81).
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Ramos barely missed a grand slam./CARMEN MANDATO
“I'm obviously frustrated," said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. "I'm frustrated for the guys. The guys have battled through tough situations. You come out of spring hoping to get there, and when you don't, there are some frustrations that go with it.
"I look at where we were at going into the break. We were a couple of games out and up in the wild card somewhere. We kind of fell apart offensively. We couldn't get anything going. It was kind of a slow death which is not fun."
Souza had three hits for the Rays./CARMEN MANDATO
In their game against the Yankees, the Rays fell with a frutrating loss. Pitcher Blake Snell, reverting to his early-season form (or lack of it) lasted only one inning. He gave up four hits, four walks and four earned runs. Snell faced six batters in the second, and didn't get any of them out.
“I”m not exactly sure what the issue was except for stating the obvious," Cash said. "He had very little command or control with any of his pitches. You noticed that when he fell behind. His pitches were up, up, up. We'll get him back out there."
The Rays had a chance in the first inning when Wilson Ramos flied deep to right with the bases loaded, but center fielder Aaron Hicks leapt and caught the ball over the fence. Instead of a grand slam, the Rays got a sacrifice fly out of the play.
In the second, the Yankees scored four times to break open the game. They coasted from there.
Tampa Bay plays against the Yankees again tonight in a 7:05 game. Matt Andriese pitches for the Rays against Luis Severino.
Kiermaier had two hits in Rays' defeat./CARMEN MANDATO
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