The Rays dropped their second consecutive game to the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday, this time by a score of 9-6, in what could be described as a slugfest by both teams. It just so happens that the Blue Jays, who are playing with a metric butt-ton of confidence at the moment (the series is in Canada after all), out slugged the Rays. Alex Cobb got the start and watched as his scoreless steak came to pass at 25-1/3 innings (just two innings shy of the club record of 27-1/3 innings set by JP Howell in 2012), after the righty gave up back-to-back homers for the first time in his career — relinquishing six runs on nine hits overall. For only only the fifth time in 27 starts, Cobb gave up up more than three runs.
In all fairness, Cobb didn’t pitch terribly — he held the Blue Jays scoreless the first time through the order. Rather, credit the Blue Jays for making adjustments in the fourth inning after the Rays scored a couple of runs. And despite those runs, at 67 pitches thrown Cobb sat to start the fifth.
But then things began to unravel for the Rays righty.
Jose Reyes led off the inning by hitting a comebacker off Cobb’s leg for a single. After a productive groundout by Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista singled up the middle scoring Reyes from second. The very next pitch Cobb threw — an knee high curveball on the outer third of the plate — to Adam Lind was sent over the wall in left-center. It wasn’t a bad pitch by any stretch of the imagination. Two pitches, later Edwin Encarnacion crushed an inside fastball to left field. In a span of four pitches, Cobb allowed four runs.
Had the Rays been able to hold Toronto at six, the game could have gone into extra innings. However,the tandem of Cesar Ramos and Josh Lueke allowed three more runs — the difference in the 9-6 loss. Lueke has now given up four runs in his last three appearances. Perception is everything, and the perception is that Lueke is going to give up runs almost every time he enters the game. If it seems like an inevitability, there’s a reason for that — Lueke has now given up earned runs in almost half of his 24 appearances. Ouch.
“José Molina, who needed that more than anybody on planet Earth.”
— Dave and Andy (Rays Radio), in response to a Molina single up the left side
Offensively, every starter contributed. Hell, even Jose Molina had a multi-hit game — his first of the season. Sean Rodriguez had a huge night at the plate, driving in three runs with a double and triple. Of his total 19 hits on the season, 13 have gone for extra bases. With more runs batted in than hits (20 RBI vs 19 hits), when SeanRod gets a hit, he makes it count.
The New What Next
The Rays will attempt to salvage the series tonight with Chris Archer on the hill. Archer is coming off a fairly dominant start, and he’ll attempt to silence the Blue Jays home run hitting buzzsaw. Liam Hendriks will toe the rubber for the first place Blue Jays. You can read about tonight’s pitching match up in our series preview, and I’ll post the starting lineup when it becomes available.
Rays 5/28/14 Starting Lineup
DeJesus DH
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Jennings CF
Joyce LF
Myers RF
Escobar SS
Molina C
Rodriguez 2B
Archer RHP
Noteworthiness
- The difference between the Rays and Jays last night? Runners in scoring position. Tampa Bay went 1-8 wRISP while Toronto was 5-9.
- Ben Zobrist is scheduled to play nine innings at second base tonight for the Class-A Stone Crabs.
- …And since we’re a mere two days away from our watch party this Friday, I’m compelled to mention something about it every day this week. We sincerely hope that each and every one of you can make it out!
