Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Fall, 7-4

A night removed from their big shutout victory, the Tampa Bay Rays fell to the Seattle Mariners by a 7-4 margin. Alex Cobb had a rough go of things; the typically dependable RHP was charged with seven runs on 11 hits in just 4-1/3 innings of work. Since it’s 6:00 AM and I’m en route to a triathlon, what follows is a bulleted account of the game. I live blogged the contest from section 145. You can read the blow-by-blow account at our Tumblr page.

Game Peripherals

Simply put, Alex Cobb didn’t have his A stuff last night — especially when compared to Roenis Elias. He had a hard time commanding his sinking fastball, and because of it Cobb was left to rely on his split-change which he left up, in very hittable locations. Despite throwing the split-change for strikes 86% of the time, Cobb was only able to coax two whiffs, while the Mariners’ hitters put his putaway pitch in play 11 times with five hits.

Elias, on the other hand, was able to induce a lot of weak contact off his low 90’s fastball, mid 80’s change up, and upper 70’s curve, though that contact — more often than not — resulted in an out. (nine outs via the fastball, three via the change, and three via the curve) Knowing that Elias is wont to attack the zone, the Rays hitters were more than happy and willing to swing in early counts. Much to the chagrin of most, Tampa Bay didn’t work good at-bats, and they didn’t force mistakes. Granted the Rays’ hitters pounced when Elias left a hittable pitch in the zone (see: James Loney’s homer off a fastball left up in the zone), those errant pitches were few and far in between.

Cesar Ramos, Kirby Yates, and Juan-Carlos Oviedo were solid, throwing 3-2/3 innings of one hit ball. It’s a shame the Mariners’ damage was done. Could you imagine if Cobb minimized the damage, and was then followed by the practically unhittable tandem of Ramos, Yates, and Oviedo? Oi! Yates was phenomenal in his inning and a third, striking out a pair of batters and getting a pair of grounders. My favorite Yates moment: a fastball, at the bottom of the zone to get Miller swinging. He’s already outperformed Josh Lueke — his predecessor. Yates was quoted, “I wasn’t really nervous, I was just kind of having fun out there.”

The New What Next

Chris Archer, on the heels of a dominant seven inning, one-run outing against the Marlins, is slated to take the hill against King Felix. The Rays were able to tag Hernandez for four runs on eight hits a month ago, standing as the only game he’s given up more than three runs all season. Since that start (we’ll call it ill fated, relatively speaking of course), Hernandez has averaged almost eight innings and just over one run per start. Oh yeah, four of the five total runs against Hernandez (in four starts) came this season. Make of that what you will. You can read about the pitching match up here.

Rays 6/8/14 Starting Lineup

Jennings CF
Kiermaier RF
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Zobrist 2B
DeJesus DH
Joyce LF
Escobar SS
Molina C
Archer RHP

Noteworthiness

• We’ve deemed this the “Indie Rock Street Cred Weekend.” Not only did we get a shootout from Superchunk (I’m still gushing), Weezer’s rhythm guitarist, Brian Bell was seen wearing our “Raymones” shirt during the post-game concert. That flat our rules!

• Your tweet of the day, courtesy of Joe Maddon:

Our short term goal is to get to 50-50, then we’ll take our chances. We need to go 26-11. We’ve done that before standing on our heads.

— Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) June 8, 2014

• On a related side note, Marc Topkin noted that Maddon’s goal is to, “Get to 50-50. And see what happens.”
• The memorial ceremony for Don Zimmer was a tear jerker if ever there was one. DeWayne Staats eulogized Zim, while the Rays put together a wonderful video featuring lifetime and career highlights — including recollections from the likes of former Ray James Shields, David Price, Joe Maddon, Joe Girardi, and Derek Jeter among others. Here are few photos from last night’s ceremony. I’ll try to upload video shortly. Until then, here’s a brief summary of the ceremony from the Tampa Bay Times:

RHP Jeremy Hellickson made his first rehab start in Tampa for the Class-A Stone Crabs. Helly gave up two hits and a walk while striking out two batters over three shutout innings. He threw 38 pitches (25 strikes, 66% K%) and threw 10 more pitches in the bullpen. Sans any setbacks, the Rays expect him to make two more rehab starts before rejoining the team for the doubleheader at Baltimore on June 27.

Ryan Hanigan (hamstring) started at catcher for the Stone Crabs and hit a two-run homer in the third inning. He finished 1-4 with a strikeout. He could DH for two or three more games and is eligible to return Wednesday.