With a little help from his friends, Matt Moore was good through five innings Friday night. The other 1-2/3 innings of work, well... (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
With a little help from his friends, Matt Moore was good through five innings Friday night. The other 1-2/3 innings of work, well… (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
The Tampa Bay Rays struck early Friday night, scoring three runs before the first out was recorded in Baltimore. However, Tampa Bay was unable to hold the lead, and fell 6-3 to the first-place Orioles. The Rays (31-40) now have dropped a season-high eight straight games.

The Rays had Yovani Gallardo on the ropes early. Logan Forsythe started the first inning rally with an opposite-field hit to right which Joey Rickard misplayed into a double. Corey Dickerson, bumped up to second in the order, golf clubbed the very next pitch to right for his 13th homer and a two-run lead.

Evan Longoria doubled to right on an 0-2 pitch, and then scored when Logan Morrison singled to right-center, putting the Rays up by three with nary an out recorded.

They had Gallardo pinned down with no signs of letting up, especially after Brad Miller worked a six pitch walk which moved LoMo into scoring position. Yet Desmond Jennings, who’s posted a meaty .167 BA/.262 OBP/.278 SLG/.540 OPS with runners in scoring position, stepped into the box and did what he’s wont to do — ground into a 6-4-3 double play on the first pitch of the at-bat.

[youtube_sc url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKdcjJoXeEY”]

After Jaff Decker worked a seven pitch walk, Taylor Motter went down (swinging) on three pitches, deflating the Rays hope of tacking on any other runs.

The Rays were able to position themselves for more runs, however, they lost runners on the base paths in four consecutive innings. 

In the second inning, Dickerson tried to turn a single into a double when Rickard lazily got ball back into the infield. The relay to second beat Dickerson to the bag, even though Corey popped up early (in mid-slide, no less) and nearly avoided JJ Hardy’s tag.

In the following inning, Miller hit what appeared to be a grounder up the middle. Johnathan Schoop had other ideas and made an impressive ranging play. His strong, off-balance strong throw got Miller by a half step. It looked as though Brad, thought he had a double and started to turn on his way to first. The gaffe cost him a step or two. 

In the fourth, Motter singled with two out, then tried to steal his way into second. He was caught on a good throw from Matt Wieters and a solid tag from Hardy.

Finally Conger led off the fifth with a base hit to to right, but he was doubled off the bag when a hard hit liner, off the bat of Forsythe, found Chris Davis at first.

Meanwhile things appeared to be going smoothly for Matt Moore, who retired his first 13 batters…albeit with a little defensive help from Jennings, Motter and Decker, who made good catches — two of which might have been homers.

Yet the Rays’ luck would run out shortly thereafter. With one out in the fifth, Davis hit a long opposite field double that glanced off Motter’s glove. The utility player made a diving attempt on the play as the ball knuckled away from him, toward the left-field corner. It was a play that a plus outfielder maybe would have made 50% of the time. That is to say, it was a tough play and a valiant effort on the part of Motter. After Wieters flew out, Hardy looped a single to right, and Davis scored ahead of Decker’s throw.

Baltimore surged ahead in the bottom of the sixth. Adam Jones homered to left to start the four-run rally. Schoop followed with a single to left, and Machado hit a base hit off the glove of Longoria to put two on with just one out. The ever dangerous Mark Trumbo walked in a nine-pitch battle, loading the bases for Davis.

On the next pitch from Moore, Davis laced a two RBI single into right. It should have been a one-run single, but Forsythe’s relay glanced off Conger’s glove. Moore, opting to stay on the mound, did not back-up the play, allowing Trumbo to score all the way from first.

The Orioles capped the scoring off Steve Geltz, who was optioned back to Triple-A Durham after the game. If you guessed that Geltz gave up his 10th homer of the season, then you guessed correctly.

It was the eighth straight game where Tampa Bay allowed five runs or more. The Rays, who now are in the throes of their longest skid since losing 10 in late May/early June 2014, haven’t scored five runs in any one game during this stretch.

The New What Next

Tampa Bay will play a day-night double header on Saturday, as a makeup for a rainout the first weekend of the regular season. Matt Andriese will start the matinee for Tampa Bay, opposite of Kevin Gausman. The team hopes to get 80-100 pitches out of Andriese. Jake Odorizzi will take the bump in the night game, opposite of 10-game winner Chris Tillman. You can read about the pitching matchups in our series preview.

Rays 6/25/16 Starting Lineup (game one)

Forsythe 2B
Dickerson LF
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Miller DH
Beckham SS
Decker CF
Motter RF
Casali C
Andriese RHP

Rays 6/25/16 Starting Lineup (game two)

Forsythe 2B
Dickerson DH
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Miller SS
Jennings CF
Arcia RF
Conger C
Decker LF
Odorizzi RHP

Noteworthiness


— Make it nine consecutive losses for the Tampa Bay, after the Rays were blanked by Baltimore, 5-0. 

For the life of me, I cannot understand why Cash pulled Matt Andriese after 4-2/3 innings and 78 pitches. The hope was for Andriese to throw 80-100, and thus not having to lean on the ‘pen going into the second game of the double header. Instead Tyler Sturdevant worked two innings, and likely won’t be available tonight. As for Enny Romero, who worked 1-1/3, he was hit by a comebacker on the fatty part of his pitching hand. Thankfully the X-Rays came back negative, and he should be able to throw tomorrow.

Let’s be honest, if they couldn’t beat Kevin Gausman, who was 0-2 with a 7.53 ERA over the last 14 days prior to Saturday (0-5, 5.37 ERA overall), there’s about an ice cubes chance in hell they’ll be able to get to Chris Tillman in the second game tonight…especially after they collected a whopping .174 BABIP this afternoon.

— A promising sign. Brandon Guyer took batting practice, ran the bases and shagged fly balls in Port Charlotte on Friday. He could start his rehab assignment as early as today.

— Danny Farquhar will be the 26th man added to the roster for the doubleheader. In 23 games with the Durham Bulls Farquhar is 3-1 with a 4.38 ERA and one save.

— The Rays optioned RHP Steve Geltz (praise Jesus) to make room for OF Oswaldo Arcia on the active roster.

— During Tampa Bay’s eight-game losing streak, the Rays have hit .195 and been outscored 47-18. Further more, in going 0-4 so far on this road trip, they have hit .163 with just eight runs total. They have scored in only five of the 36 innings.

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