Saturday, 4 a.m.
Uh-oh.
At first glance, August looks like it’s going to be hard on the Tampa Bay Rays, too.
The Rays’ struggles continued Friday night. They suffered a solid thumping by the Los Angeles Dodgers, one that increased their losses to 19 in their last 26 games. The Rays, losers of four straight, are now three games under .500 on the season.
How bad was their 5-0 loss?
— The Rays managed just six hits on their way to being shut out for the ninth time this season. They were one-for-six with runners in scoring position.
— The team pitching, on the other hand, had a tough night of it. They allowed runs to the second- and third-batters in the Dodger order on a double by Freddie Freeman. Alex Freeland singled in two runs in the fourth and Freeman homered in the fifth.
—Starter Shane Baz lost his sixth straight game. He struck out eight in five innings. However, he gave up eight hits and all five earned runs.
The Rays struggled to string anything together for most of the night as Clayton Kershaw had his way. Both Christopher Morel and Jonny DeLuca had two hits.
The Rays and Dodgers play at 1:10 p.m. at Steinbrenner Field tonight. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against former-Rays pitcher Blake Snell.