If I was asked to put together a list of the Rays ugliest losses this season, a list which would include the week’s previous frustrating extra innings losses, Friday night’s loss in Chicago would easily take the cake. The Rays had every opportunity to come out victorious — an early 4-1 lead, they reached base 21 times (10 hits, 11 walks), and the pitchers that kept Tampa Bay in the thick of things until the ninth inning — yet they couldn’t finish the job. The Rays walked away from US Cellular Field last night with a 9-6 loss, as opposed to a 6-4 win. I’m still stunned.
It would be too easy to pin the blame solely on Grant Balfour… And to be fair, he is deserving of most the blame. However, Chris Archer — though he kept the Rays in the game — gave up the three-run lead, and the hitters couldn’t tack on the go ahead runs among the many opportunities to do so.
Chris Archer gave up his first run in the bottom of the first inning after allowing a lead-off single to Adam Eaton. Archer followed by striking out Marcus Semien, though a very eager to run Eaton swiped second. With the runner in scoring position, Jose Abreu hit a first-pitch slider to left-center for an RBI single, giving the other Sox a 1-0 lead. Archer held Chicago at one run until the third, when he left a breaking pitch over the plate which Abreu absolutely crushed to dead center, cutting the Rays lead to two. The White Sox tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth after loading the bases on three straight singles. Tyler Flowers came up big, hitting a two-RBI single up the middle on the first pitch, tying the game. Archer was able to induce a Gordon Beckham fly-ball out to right field for the first out of the inning. With two on and one out, the Rays ran into a bit of inning ending luck when Eaton hit a comebacker to Archer who started an unconventional 1-5-2-4-6 double play — first catching Alejandro De Aza between home and third, and then catching Flowers between second and third to end the inning.
Archer, Joel Peralta, and Jake McGee did a good job of keeping the wolves at bay until the ninth inning, when Grant Balfour entered the game and gave up the ghost.
Tampa Bay was able to drive in four or more runs for the sixth time in seven games; a positive if there ever was one. If anything, it’s a sign the Rays have slipped out of their offensive hibernation. BUT, they also left a lot of meat on the bone Friday night.
With a three run lead, and the bases loaded (with two outs) in the top of the second, Evan Longoria grounded to short to shut the door on what should have been an even bigger inning. James Loney and Wil Myers led off the third inning with a pair of back-to-back walks, giving the Rays a healthy wRISP opportunity with DeJesus at the plate. However, DeJesus hit a soft liner to Beckham, for the first out of the inning. Yunel Escobar followed by striking out, and Hanigan ended the inning by grounding out to Beckham. Tampa Bay had another scoring opportunity in the fourth after Desmond Jennings singled up the middle, then moved up to second on a wild pitch with Matt Joyce at the plate — Joyce wound up walking. An overly anxious Evan Longoria chased a fastball and, consequently, grounded into an inning ending double play. Another inning, another wasted scoring opportunity.
James Loney led off the fifth inning with a single to center, and DeJesus moved him to third on a single just under the glove of Jose Abreu. Zach Putnam came on in relief of Petricka and promptly walked Yunel Escobar to load the bases for Ryan Hanigan. Unfortunately, an overly anxious Hanigan chopped the first pitch he saw, grounding into an inning ending 5-2-3 double play. At this point in the game, the Rays had eight walks on the night, yet they were only able to score one.
Ben Zobrist led off the sixth with a soft infield grounder, but Zo was thrown out at second after Jennings hit a chopper to third base. Matt Joyce drew his fourth walk of the game, moving Jennings to second, and Longoria made his way to the plate. Longo, however, struck out on a slider in the dirt on the third pitch of the at-bat. Loney ended the inning with an opposite field fly-ball out. Tampa Bay put on the leadoff man (Myers) once more in the seventh, and once more a double play (DeJesus) ended the threat.
The White Sox bought in their closer, Matt Lindstrom, in the top of the ninth inning. Matt Joyce welcomed Lindstrom with his fifth walk of the game — a Rays club record. Evan Longoria broke up the 4-4 deadlock with a two-run blast to dead-center, giving the Rays a short lived 6-4 lead. In the end, the Rays went 3-13 wRISP, ultimately stranding 11 men on the bags.
Tampa Bay’s brief lead came to pass in the bottom of the inning when Grant Balfour entered the game for the Rays. Alexei Ramirez led things off with a fly-ball out to center on second pitch of the at-bat. But De Aza quickly got into got into scoring position on a double to the left-center gap. Tyler Flowers followed with Chicago’s first walk of the night on five consecutive sliders which missed the zone by a good margin. It was obvious Balfour didn’t have his stuff.
With no one warming in the pen and runners at first and second, Paul Konerko entered the game, pinch hitting for Beckham. With a full count on Konerko, Balfour drew a walk a pitch that was high in the zone. Apparently Konerko didn’t like the pitch and let Balfour know as much while walking to first. After the bravado session came to pass, Eaton grounded into a run scoring fielder’s choice to short. Adrian Nieto (who ran for Konerko) was forced out at second, and Eaton barely beat the throw to first. Joe Maddon challenged the play at first, but the call was confirmed after a review. With two outs, Balfour loaded the bases once more on a walk of Marcus Semien, bringing a very dangerous Abreu to the plate. Abreu promptly crushed a walk-off grand slam into the right field bullpen.
Again, Balfour shouldn’t assume all of the blame. However, as the closer, Balfour should have been able to shut the door on the Sox. A 5 R/2 H/3 BB 25 pitch (11 strikes) inning isn’t acceptable, and it landed the Rays their third consecutive loss in a game they should (and could) have won. The ninth inning of the game became a high leverage situation that could have been avoided, had Balfour depended more on his fastball, and less on his slider which he had no command of.
The New What Next
Cesar Ramos will look to put together his second consecutive good outing Saturday, when he takes on John Danks and the White Sox. You can read about the match-up in our series preview.
Rays 4/26/14 Starting Lineup
Zobrist 2B
Jennings CF
Myers RF
Longoria 3B
Rodriguez LF
Loney 1B
Forsythe DH
Escobar SS
Hanigan C
Ramos P
Noteworthiness
- “That’s a frustrating night for me. I know I’m better than that. I was pitching away from contact a little bit. I probably got a little carried away with breaking balls. … You can’t go putting three guys on.” — Grant Balfour
- “This is absolutely a game that we should have won. Right pitcher in the right spot, right part of their batting order coming up, and we just didn’t get it done.” — Joe Maddon
- “He’s (Balfour) closed out some games for us already and nothing like this happened. I think he understands that we’re still behind him and we trust him, that when he comes in that it’s going to be a save. I think we understand that nobody feels worse than he does.” — Evan Longoria
- “That’s a tough loss for us, for sure, especially after we went up two runs — we had that game in hand.” — Matt Joyce
- Paul Konerko told the media he didn’t know what Balfour was yelling, saying, “When someone’s that close yelling, you want to find out why.” He went on to say, “When someone on a baseball field, on the other team is yelling that close to you, you just can’t have that.”