Thursday, 4 a.m.
Victory was there at third base. Success was on second. A break-even record was on first.
And the Tampa Bay Rays couldn’t drive in any of them.
The Rays lost a 2-1 game to the New York Yankees Wednesday night that can best be classified as a waste. For a team that had a fairly successful offensive showing, none of it came when it counted.
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Consider:
The Rays had 10 hits They walked five times. They had a hit batter. And they scored just one run, that coming on a ground out.
Tampa Bay left 12 men on base, including a situation where they had the bases loaded with one out in the fifth. The Rays had 10 chances with runners in scoring position, and no one succeeded.
It wasted a solid effort by Zach Eflin, who went seven innings and gave up four hits and one earned run.
The Rays got two hits each from Brandon Lowe, Ben Rortvedt and Taylor Walls. Their only run came when Yandy Diaz’ fielder’s choice scored Rortvedt.
Diaz, however, contributed to the Yankees’ second tun when he threw a potential double play into left field. That let Gleyner Torres to third, and he scored on a fly ball from Trevor Grisham.
In their last 17 innings against the Yankees, the Rays have scored two runs.
The Rays play the Yankees again tonight at 6:50 p.m. Shane Baz will pitch for the Rays against Nestor Cortes.