Matt Joyce grimaces after striking out in the first inning against Rangers starter Nick Tepesch, who pitches effectively into the eighth inning in his major-league debut.
Matt Joyce grimaces after striking out in the first inning against Rangers starter Nick Tepesch, who pitches effectively into the eighth inning in his major-league debut.

There isn’t much that can be said following Tuesday night’s disappointing loss to the Rangers. Too bad there wasn’t a controversial call to blame the it on. I guess we’ll just have to go back to the old standard of blaming things on an anemic offense that couldn’t, again, get the job done.

From a pitching perspective, the outcome was a game of inches, noted Rays skipper Joe Maddon, “Frustrating night,” Maddon said. “We lost the battle of inches today. That’s what I was thinking about in the dugout. … That happens sometimes.” The game — more or less –could be defined as a series of bloops, bleeders and slow rollers that found Roberto Hernandez on the wrong side of the outcome. Hernandez (0-2) was charged with six runs (five earned) after allowing eight hits, though only two or three were well-struck.

The real story of the night was an anemic offense that’s struggled throughout this young season, averaging under four runs per game. Nick Tepesch, the Rangers 24 year-old RHP, gave up only two hits through the first seven innings, and four hits total. Of the Rays hits only four left the infield.

As Marc Topkin put it,

“A week into the season, the Rays (3-5) haven’t shown many signs of the improved offense they were expecting, averaging less than four runs a game.”

The pitching hasn’t been hot either, giving up 27 of 44 total runs on two outs.

Coming off a good first start, Matt Moore and the Rays will try to salvage what has been a disappointing start to a long 10-game road trip. A battle of lefties, Matt Moore will butt heads with Derek Holland who the Rays have had some success against in the past. Let’s hope they can right the ship Wednesday afternoon, leaving Arlington for Boston with a getaway win. As always, Let’s Go Rays!

Rays 4/10/13 Starting Lineup:

Jennings CF
Rodriguez LF
Longoria DH
Zobrist RF
Duncan 1B
Escobar SS
Roberts 3B
Lobaton C
Johnson 2B
Moore LHP

By the Numbers:

  • 27 of the 44 runs Tampa Bay has given up have come with two outs.
  • Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria have been the Rays offensive engine, going 20-for-56 with two doubles, a home run, 10 RBI’s (36% of the teams RBI’s), seven walks, and nine strikeouts. Together they’ve put up a .357 BA and a .660 SLG.
  • The rest of the team, on the other hand, has gone 38-for-195 with nine doubles, three home runs, 18 RBI’s, 19 walks, and 35 strikeouts. All this has come with a combined .195 BA and .303 SLG. Oof.
  • Tampa Bay is now 0-10 with the bases loaded (0-12 extending to 2012) following an early Kelly Johnson strikeout Tuesday night.
  • The Rays have posted a combined .241 BA/.366 OBP/.345 SLG/.711 OPS slash line with runners in scoring position. What’s more, they’ve posted a 12.5% K/16.7% BB/40.0% GB/38.0% FB/1.26 GB to FB line wRISP.

Noteworthiness:

 

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