Tuesday, 4 a.m.
Who forgot to pack the bats for this West Coast trip.
The Tampa Bay Rays, fresh off a sweep of Arizona that featured a potent offense, offered up little opposition in a 3-0 loss to the Oakland A’s.
The Rays had just two hits — one of ythem a bloop — off of the A’s. They struck out 11 times and were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. It was the first time the Rays have been shut out in 37 games.
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For the Rays, the puzzling part was that most of it was done by Joe Boyle, who had been having a dreadful season. Boyle had an ERA of 7.39 and a 2.-5 record.
Against the Rays, he went six innings (4 2/3 of no-hit ball) in a dominating performance.
The Rays’ Taj Bradley had a quality start — six innings and three runs. But he gave up a two-run homer to J.J. Bleday in the first and Lawrence Butler’s sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Yandy Diaz and Josh Lowe had the Rays only hits.
Oakland and the Rays play again tonight at 9:40 p.m. Ryan Pepiot will start for the Rays against Mitch Spence.