Less is more today. An 8-5, late inning loss surely wasn’t the most operable way to start an important three-game series against an AL East foe.
Honestly, I’m at a loss for words for last night’s, stinging loss. I’m pretty sure you already know by now that Grant Balfour, once again, did the one thing he’s been pretty consistent at this season — he gave up the ghost late in the game. If you didn’t already know, surprise! By my count, Balfour has yielded runs in nine outings this season — last night included. Granted, all of those games didn’t result in a loss, but you get the point. For a team 11 games under .500, and struggling to keep its head above water, those nine games have proven costly for the Rays.
Last night’s poor showing followed a similar pattern: Balfour was made to pay for walking a batter or two. In fact, he’s allowed free passes to opposing batters in six of the above mentioned nine games — a total of 27 walks in 35-1/3 innings of work.
There was no guarantee that Tampa Bay would, or could, have hit a walk-off in the ninth, or in extra innings for that matter. However, one thing is certain, the odds were greatly increased with the score knotted up at five. Instead, the Rays scratched and clawed their way back into last night’s game for not.
Want to read a formal recap? Head over to DRaysBay if you’re so inclined.
The New What Next
David Price went home sick during last night’s game, and has been scratched from today’s start. Jake Odorizzi will be bumped up a day in his place. Price has been named as the starter in Sunday’s game. Price will likely be out of the All-Star Game, though that’s not necessarily automatic. Per the CBA, Price can elect to pitch up to one inning. And before all of the Ancient Aliens-like conspiracy theories of a Price trade start flying, Marc Topkin tweeted last night,
Getting tweets questioning Price situation re:trade. Talked to him Fri afternoon in #Rays clubhouse, said then how sick he’d been Thursday.
You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview, and I’ll post the starting lineup when it becomes available.
Rays 7/12/14 Starting Lineup
Kiermaier CF
Zobrist RF
Joyce DH
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Guyer LF
Escobar SS
Molina C
Rodriguez 2B
Odorizzi RHP
Noteworthiness
- Today marks Ben Zobrist’s 1,000th game as a Ray.
- Regardless of the outcome, Sean Rodriguez’s seventh inning, three-run monster shot is still must see TV.
- Desmond Jennings was replaced by Kevin Kiermaier after Jennings fouled a ball off of himself in the second inning. Jennings bruised his left knee; the X-Rays came back negative. Ryan Hanigan was scratched from his start because of soreness in his left side and was replaced by Jose Molina.
- I posted some injury updates on Wil Myers, David DeJesus, and Jerry Sands on our Tumblr page. Seek and ye shall find.