Cool photo? Absolutely. That, however, does not deter from the fact The Outlaw went 0-5 on the night while stranding five base runners. Those eyes, however, are dreamy. (Photo credit: the Tampa Bay Rays)

The Rays came within inches of a game-winning grand slam in the ninth inning from Evan Longoria. Yet in spite of a career best four RBI night from utility man Jake Elmore, the Rays fell 7-6 to Seattle in 10 innings on Tuesday. Kyle Seager, thanks to a pair of homers (including an eighth inning grand slam) and six RBI for the Mariners, led Seattle to the winning margin. For Tampa Bay, it was the fourth straight loss, as the Rays dropped a half game behind New York in the AL East. Seager’s solo shot off Brad Boxberger spoiled a fantastic ninth inning rally.

In no certain terms, four things factored into the Rays loss:

  1. Defensive gaffes directly contributed to four of Seattle’s runs.
  2. Poor calls by the umpiring crew.
  3. The Rays went 3-16 wRISP.
  4. Jake-and-the-Box combined for a pair of homers and five runs.

Defensive misplays contributed to Seattle’s two-run first inning against starter Alex Colome, who posted a 38-pitch, two-run frame. They also contributed to the four-run eighth against Jake McGee.

Austin Jackson, after leading off the game with a single to center, swiped second base — getting in just ahead of Rene Rivera’s bullet to SS Tim Beckham, who allowed the ball to glance off his glove and bound into center field. Had Beckham made the catch, Jackson easily would have been dead to rights. Instead, however, Jackson found himself at third with no outs. Still in the first, Robinson Cano smoked a ground ball a step or two away from Beckham. Instead of attempting to get in front of the ball, Beckham tried to backhand the grounder which ultimately made its way into left field.

Later on with two runners on and no outs in the eighth, Nelson Cruz hit a sharp ground ball, right at second baseman Nick Franklin, that looked to be a tailor made double play. Unfortunately for the Rays Franklin booted the play, consequently loading the bases for Seager who made McGee pay.

Bad umpiring calls also hampered the team.

The most egregious play of the first was a safe call at the plate that withstood a replay review to give the Mariners their second run. It looked as though catcher Rene Rivera took a throw from Alex Colome after a comebacker from Seager, and tagged Seth Smith thus keeping him from getting to the plate.

On an irate scale where Lou Pinella was a 10 and Joe Maddon was a 1, Manager Kevin Cash was a five. The Rays skipper made it clear how much he disagreed with the call  after the game:

Terrible. Terrible. It’s embarrassing. We spend so much time on pace of play, let’s just get the damn call right on the field. It’s terrible. They ought to be embarrassed. Feels like we got beat twice tonight.

Another bad call drew the ire of Cash. In the seventh inning with joey butler on first, Evan Longoria hit a drive down the left-field line that was initially called foul by third-base umpire Jerry Layne. The call was reversed upon review, however Butler was awarded third base, not home.

I’d like to know where Joey Butler was on Longoria’s double. Very curious. They missed the call, they place the runner. That’s a run. I look at it as two runs, one for us, one against us. It’s terrible.

Yet gaffes and bad calls do not take deter from the fact that, on the whole, the Rays were cold offensively for the majority of the game. going 3-16 wRISP on the night, the had chances to add to their 3-2 advantage in the fifth inning by getting two on with none out. They had another shot in the seventh, getting runners to second and third with one out.

In all fairness, the ninth inning was pretty glorious. Neil Solondz (Rays Radio Network) wrote about the little inning that (almost) could:

Trailing 6-3 in the ninth, the Rays tied the game against closer Fernando Rodney, but almost won the game. Pinch-Hitter David DeJesus started the rally with a single to left, Brandon Guyer blooped a hit to right and Joey Butler was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Evan Longoria fell behind 0-2 and then hit a ball of the yellow line in left for a two-run double, pulling the Rays within a run at 6-5. Logan Forsythe popped out in foul ground to first for the first out. Asdrubal Cabrera pinch-hit for Tim Beckham and was walked intentionally, re-loading the bases. Elmore then hit a potential double-play ball, but Robinson Cano’s throw was wide of first, scoring Butler with the tying run. Kevin Kiermaier then grounded hard to second to send the game to extra innings.

Still, when you consider that the tandem of Kevin Kiermaier and Nick Franklin combined to go 0-10 on the night, and that The Outlaw stranded five men on base, you come to the realization that the woulda-coulda-shouldas don’t win games.

Speaking to point four, Cash summed up the uncanny appearances by Jake McGee and Brad Boxberger, who combined to allow a pair of homers and five runs late in the game:

We got beat with our best guys out on the mound and lined up perfectly. And sometimes that’s going to happen.

By the by, this tit-for-tat thing that the Rays and Lightning have going on needs to stop. It seems as though whenever the two Bay Area franchises play on the same night, the outcome, more often than not, is similar.

The New What Next

The final game of the series is on Wednesday afternoon when Chris Archer takes the hill opposite of Felix Hernandez. King Felix had his worst outing of the year, going six innings and allowing four earned runs in a 4-2 loss to Boston on Saturday. He dropped to 6-1 with the effort. Still, it won’t be easy for the Rays who will attempt a to put a kibosh on the Mariner’s hopes of a sweep. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 5/27/15 Starting Lineup

Kiermaier CF
Butler DH
Longoria 3B
DeJesus LF
Forsythe 1B
Franklin SS
Elmore 2B
Guyer RF
Rivera C
Archer RHP

Noteworthiness

— Amid all the late-night developments, the Rays announced postgame that Grant Balfour opted out of his Triple-A deal, and was granted his release, writes Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times). Topkin continued, it was clear Balfour wasn’t going to be called up by the Rays, now the question is whether he seeks to keep pitching elsewhere or retire.

— Kevin Cash is a man of many words:

— Desmond Jennings told Topkin his knee is getting better:

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