Saturday, 3 a.m.
Team Nothing was discovered going nowhere again Friday night. For the Tampa Bay Rays, the Grand Futility Tour continues.
The crashing Rays, now losers of six of their last seven games, managed to be worse than the last-place Baltimore Orioles on Friday night. The Rays lost 1-0, the second time they have been shut out in four games.
The Rays had eight hits, but they never touched home. It was the fourth time they've been shut out this year.
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This time, it wasn't one of the high-priced Yankees starters doing the smothering. It was Dean Kremer, who entered with a 1-1 record. After Kremer, the Orioles bullpen recorded nine outs, eight of them via the strikeout.
“It kind of carried over from our last series in New York," said Kevin Cash, the Rays' manager. "Their guy Kremer did a nice job of staying in the zone, mixing pitches. They’ve got some bullpen arms thaare putting together good sessions and challenged us to not be able to get anything going."
It's been a stretch since the Rays got anything going. How can they? Their batting order had five players hitting .189 or lower. They struck out 13 times. They were 0-3 with running in scoring position. In the sixth inning alone, Vidal Brujan was out trying to steal second and Ji-Man Choi was out trying to stretch a single into a double.
"We know how good we are," said outfielder Brett Phillips. "Just not now."
The Rays wasted another solid starting pitching performance. This time, Shane Baz went six innings of shutout, two-hit baseball. But Calvin Faucher gave up double (Ryan Mountcastle) and a single (Adley Rutschman) for the game's only run.
"I like Faucher," Cash said. "We like him. Given how much we used some guys last night, I felt like his stuff was going to be a nice complement to quieting that lineup. Still, I liked the way he’s throwing the ball."
The Rays try again in a 4:05 game against Baltimore today at Camden Yards. Jeffrey Springs will start for the Rays against Kyle Bradish.