Tuesday, 3 a.m.
The Tampa Bay Rays are running out of players.
Sadly, they seem to have already run out of offense.
The Rays lost two starting outfielders -- centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier and right fielder Manny Margot -- in their latest defeat, a 4-2 decision at the hands of the New York Yankees. It was the Rays' eighth loss in its last 10 games.
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"It doesn’t look good," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said of Margot. "He’s going to miss some time. I’m confident in that. Pretty unfortunate. Manny’s such a good player and a good guy. It’s unfortunate. I’m guessing Manny’s going to miss some significant time."
Cash talked about losing Kiermaier, who has been troubled with a leg injury.
“I think that’s more fluke than antrhing," Cash said. "It’s unfortunate. They’re both such key pieces to our club. We’ll just have to put our heads together and find a way to overcome it."
Even considering their offense, and considering that Gerrit Cole was on the mound for the Yankees, it was a miserable effort by the Rays' offense. Tampa Bay managed just three hits for the game.
Still, the Rays were able to tie the game in the eighth. In the ninth, however, Aaron Hicks hit a fly deep to right field. Margot crashed into the wall trying to make the catch. Hicks ended up with a triple to break the tie. Luis Trevino's fly to right added a run.
McClanahan was just a tick off of Cole's performance, allowing one earned run (a home run by Anthony Rizzo) in his six innings. He struck out eight.
“I made a really bad pitch," McClanahan said. "Anthony Rizzo’s too good a hitter to let that go by. He deposited where he should have deposited it and that was 30 rows deep."
McClanahan said he felt terrible for Margot.
"It’s awful," McClanahan said. "I was in the training room when the play happened, and you could feel the air get sucked out of there. We’re hoping for the best news possible."
The Rays try again tonight against the Yankees at Tropicana Field at 7:10 p.m. Nestor Cortes will start for the Yankees. The Rays have not announced a starter.
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