For the sixth time this season, the Tampa Bay Rays fell to the Seattle Mariners, this time 4-2 on Tuesday. Groundhog’s day. Look at the bright side, Boston also lost.
At 64-44 on the season, Tampa Bay enters play Wednesday 20-games over .500, yet still in first place by a game in the division.
Tampa Bay took their only lead of the night on the first pitch of the home half of the first when Randy Arozarena drilled a fastball to left off Yusei Kikuchi. It was RAAAAAAAANDY’s 16th homer on the season and second in as many days.
Luis Patiño got the start Wednesday and wasn’t what you’d call efficient. The right-hander put up a 5.0 IP/5 H/3 R/2 BB/3 K line on 100 pitches (65 strikes, 65% strike rate). He allowed two solo shots. Of his 65 strikes, 25 were foul balls, as Seattle’s hitters were able to foul off slider after slider until they got a hanger, or until Patiño went back to his fastball. He had a 27% whiff rate on his slider, while his season average is 43.8%. On the season, Patiño maintains a 4.26 ERA and a 3.66 FIP, with a 1.17 WHIP, and a 3.60 K/BB across 31.2 innings.
Because of what I wrote above, Seattle answered immediately in the top of the second innings after Jake Fraley hit a bloop double to left, then advanced on back-to-back fly ball outs by Jarred Kelenic and Cal Raleigh.
The Mariners took the lead for good against Patiño. Abraham Toro led off the fourth inning with a first-pitch home run to right on a hanging curveball. One out later, Jarred Kelenic homered to center, putting Seattle up by a pair.
The Rays got within a run against Kikuchi in the fourth when Austin Meadows singled then scored from first on Manuel Margot’s base hit to left that got past Fraley for an error. Yet, they weren’t able to drive home Margot in the frame and left two runners on in the fifth.
Seattle then took advantage of a pair of errors in the sixth that scored an unearned run against Ryan Sherriff.
D.J. Johnson, JT Chargois, and Louis Head combined to Seattle off the board during the final three frames, yet Tampa Bay was unable to get anything across runs against former Rays Casey Sadler and Diego Castillo, who were sandwiched around Paul Sewald.
The New What Next
The Rays will wrap up their homestand on Wednesday afternoon with Josh Fleming (8-5, 4.14 ERA) on the mound. He’ll toe the rubber opposite of right-hander Logan Gilbert (5-2, 4.04 ERA).
Josh Fleming allowed three runs on eight hits and two walks with seven strikeouts across five innings against Boston on Friday. While it wasn’t a pretty performance by any stretch of the imagination, Fleming came up big when he needed to and escaped more than a few self-induced jams. He, and the rest of the relief corps, ultimately stranded nine runners on the basepaths. It was the first time the left-hander completed five innings since June 19, when he posted 6.1 innings against Seattle. Fleming still threw a few too many balls (40 of 99 pitches, 40% ball rate), and he saw his ERA (4.15) and FIP (4.37) inch up to go along with a 1.19 WHIP, and a 2.32 K/BB across 82.1 innings. Even so, it was a gutsy outing and something to build on. The left-hander is 0-0 with a 7.11 ERA against the Mariners this season thanks to a 6.1 IP/5 R/7 H/2 BB outing in June.
Logan Gilbert allowed four runs on six hits and a walk over 5.2 innings Friday against the Rangers. He struck out six. Gilbert worked through three scoreless frames before surrendering a run in each of the fourth and fifth innings. He then served up two solo shots to Adolis Garcia and Jonah Heim in the sixth. Prior to Friday’s outing, the rookie right-hander had gone 22.2 straight innings without giving up a home run. His ERA is now up to 4.04 and his FIP sits at 3.24, with a 1.06 WHIP, and a 5.21 K/BB through 62.1 frames. Gilbert is 0-0 with a 6.35 ERA in one, 5.2 inning start against the Rays this season. He allowed four runs on six hits including two homers in that outing. Key Matchups: Manuel Margot (1-3, HR, RBI), Austin Meadows (1-3), Joey Wendle (2-2, 2B, RBI), Mike Zunino (1-1, HR, 2 RBI)
You can read about the series in our preview, whilr Noteworthiness and the starting lineup are below.
Rays 8/3/21 Starting Lineup
- B. Lowe 2B
- Choi 3B
- Arozarena LF
- Meadows DH
- Wendle 3B
- Franco SS
- Kiermaier CF
- Zunino C
- Phillips RF
- Fleming LHP
Noteworthiness
— Tyler Glasnow will undergo Tommy John surgery on Wednesday to remedy the partially torn UCL and flexor strain in his right arm. The right-hander made the decision Tuesday after he met with Dr. Keith Meister, who will perform the operation.
It’s been something that’s been bothering me for quite a while, and those last two starts or so, it kind of just put it over the edge. It started to feel better when I was home, then as I started to stretch it out again, it was like, ‘It’s time to get this done.’
It was something I considered, and I tried to build up. Just yesterday, especially throwing off the mound and kind of feeling that pain, it was very apparent that it was probably time to get it done.
— Tyler Glasnow
Glasnow posted a 2.66 ERA with 123 strikeouts across 88 innings to start the season, and he still ranks third on the team in WAR despite having thrown his last pitch nearly seven weeks ago.
The right-hander will be missed, and we wish him nothing but the best as he heals from his injury and the subsequent surgery.
— The team hopes to have Chris Archer back in the rotation at some point down the stretch, although his rehab assignment is on hold due to left hip soreness. Shane Baz could make his big-league debut after returning from the Olympics later this month.
— The Rays signed reliever Evan Phillips to a minor league deal Tuesday.
Since the start of the 2018 season, Phillips has pitched 54 innings at the big-league level, posting a bloated 7.50 ERA and a 5.33 FIP. His 25.4% strikeout rate is okay, while his 10.5 K/9 in the minors is fantastic, although an unpalatable 14.9% walk rate belies those numbers. Still, his minor league numbers are much better over that stretch: a 3.41 ERA across 116 innings, with an excellent 31.5% strikeout rate. His walk rate is also better albeit still high at 10%.
Phillips will report to Triple-A Durham and see if he can work his way back to the majors down the final stretch of the season.