Tuesday, 4 a.m.
Evidently, word that these Tampa Bay Rays are a pretty good team has yet to reach the great Northwest.
The Seattle Mariners continued to use the Rays as their personal punching bags Friday night, winning a relatively easy game 8-2.
It was the fifth straight win (against no losses) by the Mariners over the Rays. In five games, Seattle has outscored the Rays 39-15.
Content beyond this point is for members only.
Already a member? To view the rest of this column, sign in using the handy "Sign In" button located in the upper right corner of the GarySheltonSports.com blog (it's at the far right of the navigation bar under Gary's photo)!
Not a member? It's easy to subscribe so you can view the rest of this column and all other premium content on GarySheltonSports.com.
It was a team that can't hit against a team that has great pitching, and still, it was lopsided. Seattle, the worst hitting team in the major leagues by five full points has had 48 hits and 14 walks against the Rays.
"They've kind of had our number," said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. "We’re going to have to make some adjustments moving forward. They’ve played well against us."
It didn't help that Michael Wacha had one of his off-again nights. For most of the season, Wacha has struggled to put back-to-back solid starts together. This time, he gave up eight hits and three walks in four innings. Seattle scored six times against him.
The Mariners scored five times in the third inning and coasted.
“Seattle’s hitters, it seemed like they were on everything," Cash said. "They made nice adjustments during the at-bats. Wach obviously didn’t have the best finish to his pitches and Seattle just made us pay for it.
"The start before this was his best start of the season. It's unfortunate today he wasn’t able to follow that up. This was just not his night and certainly not ours."
The Rays also played sloppy in the field, committing two errors and making several other misplays.
“We set such a high bar defensively," Cash said. "When you see stuff pop up like that more than once in a game, a handful of times, you scratch your head at it. All of us just had an off-night. They’ve kind of had our number. "
The Rays, still in first place in the American League East, will try again tonight when they play Seattle at 7:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Luis Patino will start for the Rays against Yusei Kikuchi.