Karns took the hill in front of more than 100 family and friends, yet his outing did not go as he hoped for him or the team.
Tampa Bay fell behind in the bottom of the first when Karns hit his first batter, then walked the next two hitters to load the bases with none out. The righty was able to limit the damage, getting Adrian Beltre to ground into a 5-3 double play for a 1-0 lead. He followed by forcing Mitch Moreland to fly out to center to end the inning.
Tampa Bay answered in the top of the second after the red hot Asdrubal Cabrera doubled to left with one out in the second against the Rangers’ hurler Martin Perez, then moved to third on an errant pickoff attempt. The newly activated Desmond Jennings lashed a hard hit RBI single into left in his first at-bat off the DL, tying the game at one.
Unfortunately for Karns, Josh Hamilton deposited a 1-1 fastball in to the right-center stands in the bottom of the second, putting the Rangers back in front by one. The early seesaw scoring continued in the next half inning, as the Rays took their first — and only — lead of the night.
The rally started when Kevin Kiermaier beat out an infield single to second and Curt Casali was hit by a pitch. Brandon Guyer grounded into what was initially ruled a double-play grounder to third, but at the suggestion of video coordinator “Chico” Fernandez, Rays manager Kevin Cash challenged the call and it was overturned on replay review — the first of three on the night.
With two outs, Evan Longoria hit a line drive double to left-center that scored two. For Longoria, it was his eighth hit in his past 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position
Karns got into more trouble in the fourth, however, he was able to hold Texas scoreless in the frame. Adrian Beltre led the inning off with a single to center, yet Moreland came up with an unproductive out after he reached on a fielder’s choice; Beltre was out at second. Two batters later, Karns walked Elvis Andrus to put runners on first and second with two outs. Karns forced Rougned Odor into a grounder at first to end the threat.
Nathan was lifted in the fifth inning after he walked Shin-Soo Choo with two outs. Karns allowed base runners in each of the five innings in which he pitched, also allowing a season high five walks.
Xavier Cedeno came on, and thanks to The Outlaw, he finished the inning after Kiermaier robbed Prince Fielder of a two-run homer.
Cedeno followed by throwing a hitless sixth, although Hamilton reached on a fielding error by the Rays LOOGY. Still, Cedeno got through the frame cleanly.
The Rays caused some of their own problems as well. They stranded seven — including a huge bases loaded opportunity in the sixth — while hitting into three double plays. They also had runners thrown out at second and third.
They were unable to capitalize on another scoring opportunity in the seventh. Curt Casali doubled to right to start the frame, but pinch-hitter Grady Sizemore grounded hard to first. Mitch Moreland stepped on first and then fired off a throw to third in an attempt to get Casali, who was running on the play. And while Casali was initially called safe at third, he was called out after a review — the third overturned call of the night.
It was a questionable play at best. Ian Malinowski (DRaysBay) wrote about it in their game recap:
There was a weird replay where Casali was caught by a throw to third base. He slid past the bag, reaching back to hold onto it with his finger tips. The umpire at third called him out on the tag, but then called him safe when the ball popped out of Beltre’s glove after the swipe. There was a definite pause before the ball popped out, and the Rangers challenged, perhaps thinking it had happened on the transfer. The replays turned out to clearly show that Casali’s hand had never come off the bag, but he was called out, with the replay officials perhaps deciding that Beltre had gotten his shoulder with the swipe before the rest of the play even started.
Cash told the media after the game the overturned play was right call, “Beltre tagged him on the back before Casali reached the bag.”
Steve Geltz took the mound in the bottom of the seventh and quickly collected the first two outs of the inning on eight pitches. But with two outs in the seventh, Geltz allowed a 3-1 homer to Delino DeShields to tie the game at three. It was the first Major League homer for DeShields.
Malinowski wrote about Geltz’s errant meatball as well:
…against Deshields he made a mistake. Brian Anderson broke it down well. Geltz was trying to go down and away, but he lost his mechanics and the ball sailed high and armside on him. Usually when this happens, the pitch misses the strike zone by about three feet, the batter dives out of the way, and everyone has a good chuckle and tries again, but because of the intended location, Geltz’s straight meatball sailed right into Deshields’s wheelhouse…
But the team looked like they may rally in the eighth after Cabrera and Jennings collected a pair of two out, back-to-back singles. Reliever Sam Dyson had other plans in mind, however, and the righty fanned Tim Beckham (looking) on three pitches to end that threat. It was questionable for Cash to send Beckham to the plate against Dyson with the left handed bat of James Loney available off the bench. Despite a down year at the plate, the likelihood of Loney putting the ball into play was greater than Beckham.
Finally tasked with preserving the tie, Jake McGee allowed two runs in the bottom of the frame and the Rangers pulled ahead. With one out, Beltre singled to center and moved to third on Moreland’s single up the middle. Kiermaier fielded the play and threw to third instead of second, which allowed Moreland to advance 90 feet. Kiermaier called the throw, “a bonehead play on my part.” Josh Hamilton hit a deep sacrifice-fly to center (allowing both runners to advance) giving Texas a 4-3 lead, and finally Andrus capped the rally with an RBI single to center.
Per FanGraphs, Tampa Bay ended the night with a 16.3% chance of a postseason birth. This, after starting the night with a 22% chance of making the playoffs. They simply cannot afford to lose winnable games like this at this point of the season.
The New What Next
Chris Archer (10-8, 2.62 ERA) will make his 25th start of the season Saturday night, opposite of RHP Colby Lewis. According to STATS LLC, opposing hitters have missed on 31 percent of swings against Archer, which ranks second in the American League to Chris Sale of the White Sox. He last faced the Rangers on May 7, allowing five earned runs and going a season-low 3-1/3 innings. Lewis is 8-2 with a 4.55 ERA in his last 13 starts and he is 2-1 with a 1.42 ERA in three starts against Tampa Bay (in regular season starts) since joining the Rangers in 2010. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 8/15/15 Starting Lineup
Jaso DH
Sizemore RF
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Forsythe 2B
Cabrera SS
Jennings LF
Kiermaier CF
Rivera C
Archer RHP
Noteworthiness
— Tonight’s lineup has Jennings in LF, Sizemore in RF, Loney at 1B, Forsythe back at 2B, and Rivera catching.
— A big thank you to all who attended our watch party last night; that’s why we do what we do! Our next watch party is tentatively scheduled for September 25, when the Rays take on the Blue Jays in Toronto. It should be a doozy of a ballgame!