Don’t get me wrong, neither Alex Colome or the Rays offense were sharp Saturday. Rays manager Kevin Cash didn’t show much tolerance for Colome’s contact laden outing, pulling the righty in the fourth inning after tossing just 60 pitches.
I don’t know why in the fourth inning somebody was up in the bullpen, but they know what they do, Colome said following the game. I don’t know where I stand now. I don’t know what my pitch count is or anything. I take whatever they do.
To that end, Tampa Bay went 2-8 wRISP despite a handful of key opportunities…cough, a leadoff triple by Asdrubal Cabrera in the third, runners on first and second in the fourth, a runner on second in the fifth, so on and so forth. Still, I’d argue the loss had more to do with luck and misplays.
For the uninitiated, BABIP (Batting average on balls in play) measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits, or how many balls in play against a pitcher go for hits, excluding home runs. By my estimation, there were at least five unlucky hits that — when combined with the team’s overall sloppiness — led to the loss.
Take for example a first inning pop-up in shallow right that fell in between Tim Beckham and Steven Souza. While Souza had a better angle on the play, the ball was never caught and instead fell into play. To his credit, Souza was able to gun down Brian Dozier at second on the play.
The luck dragons continued to nip in the second inning, when Cabrera was a step shy on a couple of ground balls that were consequently converted into a pair of runs. He was also a step shy on one or two others as the game progressed.
Then there was the third inning liner, off the bat of Torii Hunter, that popped out of James Loney’s glove.
Unfortunately for the Rays, the Twins pounced on a lapse in judgment and a throwing error.
Kevin Kiermaier threw the ball home on Eddie Rosario’s single to center in the second inning, costing the Rays a run when Rosario moved up to seconde and eventually scored.
The most egregious play came in the seventh with the score knotted at three. With runners at first and second and just one out, Trevor Plouffe chopped a comebacker in front of the mound. Kevin Jepsen fielded the ball cleanly, but let loose with a rushed and errant throw that pulled Tim Beckham off the bag. The error loaded the bases for Kurt Suzuki, who hit a sacrifice fly, and Eduardo Escobar, who hit an RBI single that allowed the Twins to take a two-run lead.
Jepsen talked about his gaffe after the game,
Comebacker, I thought I had more time. By the time I turned around and looked, he was a lot closer than I expected. So, instead of just eating it and throwing to first, I tried to rush it and threw the ball up the line.
Rays manager Kevin Cash likened the gaffes to those made in Spring Training,
We work on it quite a bit in spring training. It’s just a typical play, he knows, we know, we need to make those plays. We’ve played very well defensively. (Saturday) you just saw a couple plays that showed up and impacted the game a little bit.
The Rays are now 0-2 in the regular season version of the Knutson Classic.
The New What Next
Rain is in the forecast for the series finale. If the game is played, Chris Archer will toe the rubber opposite of Kyle Gibson. Archer is second in the American League with 58 strikeouts, while Gibson has allowed just three runs in his last 28 innings. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 5/17/15 Starting Lineup
Kiermaier CF
Forsythe DH
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Guyer RF
DeJesus LF
Cabrera SS
Franklin 2B
Wilson C
Archer RHP
Noteworthiness
— Andrew Bellatti was sent to Triple-A Durham and INF Nick Franklin (left oblique strain) was activated from the DL. Bellatti didn’t allow a run in two appearances since the Rays called him up a week ago. The move gives the Rays 13 position players and 12 pitchers again.
— A huge thank you to all who showed up for our first watch party of the year! Keep your ear to the ground for the announcement of the next one to follow.