Friday, 4 a.m.
Perhaps it was bound to happen. Baseball is a season of rises and falls, so it is natural that the Tampa Bay Rays would enter a leveling off period.
Blame it on the injuries. Blame it on the toughening schedule. Blame it on 10-game road trips. Blame it on the bullpen.
Whatever, the Rays have fallen off a ledge. After Thursday's 3-2 loss to New York, they are 4-6 in their last 10 games.
Thursday, for a change, they didn't have a high score in the loss. They had just six hits and two runs.
Josh Lowe scored both runs, the first on a fielder's choice by Harold Ramirez and the second on a solo home run. Pete Alonso homered for the Mets for the third straight game.
Rookie Taj Bradley pitched five innings for the Rays. He was unsteady in the first inning but ended up throwing five innings and giving up only three hits.
"The strike zone wasn't there for him early," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said. "For a young guy, he did a nice job resetting himself."
The Rays return home to Tropicana Field today for a 6:40 p.m. game against the Brewers. Shane McClanahan will start for the Rays and Adrian Houser for the Brewers,