The Tampa Bay Rays lost a seesaw battle in Boston Friday night, dropping the first game of a three game set to the Red Sox by a score of 7-5. The Rays, now 51-53 on the season, allowed six two-out runs in a game mired by errors and sloppy play. It certainly isn’t what’s expected out of a team who has pitching and defense in its DNA.
Source: FanGraphs
Tampa Bay took a brief 1-0 lead in the first inning against lefty Eduardo Rodriguez after Brandon Guyer worked a leadoff walk, Evan Longoria hit a one out single to left, and Logan Forsythe accepted the second free pass of the inning. With the bases loaded, Joey Butler plated the run after beating out a potential double play ball to second. The team settled for only one run in the top of the inning, as Asdrubal Cabrera grounded to third for the final out.
The Red Sox countered in the bottom of the frame, tagging Erasmo Ramirez for three unearned runs. Ramirez quickly put down Brock Holt on three pitches by coaxing a grounder to first. But Forsythe* — playing first base vs. the left handed Rodriguez — and Tim Beckham committed errors on the next two plays which put runners on first and third with just one out. Boston took advantage on a single to right by Alejandro De Aza, and a two-run bloop single to left by Blake Swihart.
Down but not out, Tampa Bay added runs in the second and third innings, knotting the score at three. Mikie Mahtook doubled to left off the Green Monster, then moved to third on a strike three wild pitch which also allowed Guyer to reach first. Mahtook scored on a Steven Souza Jr. infield single to third, where wild throw across the diamond by Josh Rutledge pulled Mike Napoli off the bag. In the third, Asdrubal Cabrera singled off Rodriguez, then moved to second on a Beckham comebacker. Cabrera came around to score on a two-out single to right by Mahtook.
Boston retook the lead in the fifth after Holt led off the bottom of the inning by beating out a soft grounder to short. He advanced to second on a fielder’s choice by Bogaerts. Ramirez* came back to fan Ortiz for the second out, but Napoli walked to put runners on first and second. It was just the second walk allowed by Erasmo in the last 83 batters faced. DeAza followed with a single to right-center, giving the Red Sox a one run advantage.
Ramirez did not allow another run, and put together a 6 IP/5 H/4 R (1 earned)/2 BB/6 K line on 95 pitches (63 strikes). His 42.9% LOB for the game is telling — the fielding gaffes not only accounted for three of Boston’s six runs, but forced the Rays starter to make 33 pitches in the first inning alone; a little more than a third of Erasmo’s total pitch count. Yet Ramirez departed the game on the winning side of the ledger after Tampa Bay took a one run lead in the top of the seventh.
Butler accepted a four pitch leadoff walk off Robbie Ross. After Cabrera went down looking, and Beckham flied to center, Mahtook was hit by a pitch to put two on with two outs. Kevin Cash called upon the left handed bat of pinch hitter John Jaso and the gamble paid off. Jaso lined a two-run double to deep center off Junichi Tazawa (who entered in relief of Ross), and made his way to third on a throwing error by Blake Swihart. Kevin Kiermaier had an opportunity to drive in an insurance run, yet he went down swinging on three pitches to end the threat.
The lead, sadly, was short lived.
The typically dependable Jake McGee allowed two runs in the seventh. The lefty made quick work of Holt and Bogaerts on eight pitches, but Ortiz walked in after an 11-pitch battle and Napoli hit the sixth pitch he saw, a high 2-2 fastball, into the Monster seats in left field to put Boston ahead to stay. It was a good pitch, and how Napoli was able to power it (just barely) over the wall is beyond me. If the game was held at the Trop, we’d probably be talking about a warning track fly-ball.
Tampa Bay had a chance to regain the advantage in the eighth, after Souza and Longoria hit back-to-back singles off Tazawa. However, Logan Forsythe popped to right and Butler grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
Boston tacked on another two-out run in the eighth. Swihart hit a one out double off the Monster that was misplayed by Mahtook. The left fielder tracked the ball and leaped at the very last moment, but the ball bounded off the wall toward Kiermaier, who quickly got the ball back to the infield. His trepidation in making contact with the wall surely played a part in how Mahtook attempted to make a play. Had he taken one or two stops to his left, then leaped, chances are the double would’ve been an out. Jackie Bradley Jr. moved Swihart to third on a fielder’s choice to first, and Brandon Gomes uncorked a two-out wild pitch.
Koji Uehara took the mound in the ninth. Though he allowed a leadoff walk to Cabrera, Uehara retired the next three hitters for the save.
The Rays had runners on base in each inning, and stranded 13 men on base.
*Erasmo wild pitched Xander Bogaerts to third with David Ortiz at the plate.
The New What Next
Matt Moore (1-2, 7.61 ERA) will make his sixth start of the season opposite of Joe Kelly. He hasn’t gone more than five innings in any of his starts this season, becoming the second in franchise history to start the season with five starts of five innings or fewer. Moore is 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA in five career regular-season starts against the Red Sox. Kelly got roughed up in his last start. He has pitched just once against the Rays in his career, giving up eight hits and five runs in a no-decision. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 8/1/15 Starting Lineup
Jaso DH
Souza RF
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Forsythe 2B
Sizemore LF
Cabrera SS
Kiermaier CF
Casali C
Moore LHP
Noteworthiness
— Mahtook was optioned back to Triple-A Durham after going 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. The problem last night was the defense, which begs the question, why haven’t the Rays promoted Richie Shaffer? According to Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) Cash acknowledged that slugging INF prospect Richie Shaffer, who has 23 homers between Double A and Triple A, “has had a ton of success but it’s not quite the right time for him.”
I’d argue that by demoting Joey Butler until the September roster expansion, you’d have the opportunity to promote a true first baseman who could platoon with Loney on days when a lefty takes the mound. Instead, playing Forsythe at first (instead of a true first baseman) last night cost the Rays an error, run, and Erasmo a good number of pitches. Sizemore was recalled.