Saturday, 4 a.m.
Just like that, the Rays have a bullpen problem.
The Rays lost their fourth game in five outings Sunday, and once again, it was the relief corps that let the team down. The Rays led 3-1 going into the seventh inning, but couldn’t hold the lead in a 4-2 loss.
It continued a stretch of struggles lately. The Rays’ bullpen had wobbled in their series against the Athletics, giving up five runs in their three-game series. They gave up three more on Friday.
Included were two hit batters in one inning (by Garrett Cleavinger), two runs given up (by Edwin Uceta) and the winning home run given up to Harrison Bader (Kevin Kelly) on Kelly’s first pitch of the ninth inning. Bader had two homers on the day.
It spoiled a decent outing by Zack Littell, who gave up four hits and one run in his seven innings.
The run came on a solo homer off of Littell. Littell leads major league baseball in home runs allowed with 24.
The Rays had come back from a 1-0 deficit when Yandy Diaz doubled in Josh Lowe and Junior Caminero singled in Diaz. An inning later, Josh Lowe singled in Chandler Simpson.
The Rays got two hits each from Josh Lowe and Caminero. Brandon Lowe had a hit for the 19th straight game, one short of Diaz’s record.
Tampa Bay and Minnesota play again today at 2:10 p.m. Taj Bradley will start for the Rays. The Twins have not announced a starter.