If you squint your eyes and pretend, last night's game between the Rays and the playoff contending Orioles was a sellout. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
If you squint your eyes and pretend, last night’s game between the Rays and the playoff contending Orioles was a sellout. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
The Tampa Bay Rays scored four runs over the first and second innings, but squandered the lead and fell to the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4. Baltimore, who currently holds the top Wild-Card spot, has won seven of eight contests against Tampa Bay at home this season.


Source: FanGraphs

Early in the game, it appeared that Tampa Bay was en route to a fourth consecutive win. Kevin Kiermaier hit a first inning, one-out double to right that skipped just over the glove of Chris Davis, then Evan Longoria followed with a massive homer to left-center off Ubaldo Jimenez.

It was the second first inning homer for Longoria in as many days, and his career high 34th on the season — also tying the Rays’ single-season record for home runs by a right-handed batter (Jose Canseco, 1999).

The Rays were able to extend the lead in the second inning after Steven Souza Jr. singled to left, and Richie Shaffer followed with a two-run homer to left for a 4-0 lead.

At this point in the ballgame Souza had reached base in 11 of 17 plate appearances, while Shaffer’s blast was his first with the big league squad this season.

However, Jimenez found his stride and shutdown the Rays from then on, at one point retiring 14 of 16 batters. He ultimately posted seven solid innings and held the Rays scoreless over the remainder of his start, allowing the Orioles to chip away at the lead.

Chris Archer, meanwhile, worked around a pair of first inning errors before Pedro Alvarez put Baltimore on the board in the second with a homer to right-center. Then in the fourth inning, Chris Davis hit an opposite field homer to left, making it a two-run game. Archer was otherwise stingy through through six, posting a decent 6.1 IP/7 H/3 ER/1 BB/4 2 HR line on 100 pitches (63 strikes, 14-of-27 first pitch strikes, 13 whiffs).

Baltimore threatened in the seventh, yet a big play by The Outlaw kept the Rays in front. After allowing back-to-back, one-out singles to JJ Hardy and Michael Bourn, Archer departed the game with the lead intact. Danny Farquhar, dead set on blowing things for the Rays ace, entered in relief and promptly plunked Adam Jones with his first pitch, loading the bases.

Outfielder Hyun-Soo Kim was next, and he drove a ball to the wall in right-center, yet Kiermaier — timing the fly-ball perfectly, then making a leap in front of the wall — prevented the ball from leaving the ballpark for a grand slam. The ball, however, fell out of his glove as he crashed into the wall, leading to (as BA called it) the longest single ever seen, making it a 4-3 game.

Though Kiermaier was visibly upset with himself, for what he likely deemed to be a misplay, bringing that ball back was pivotal — Farquhar recovered to strike out Manny Machado and Davis (both swinging) to end the threat, each in eight-pitch at-bats.

If there’s one thing we know to be true, you can’t keep the Orioles down for long…especially when you don’t execute your pitches. And though the Rays maintained a late lead, albeit a shaky one-run lead, the Orioles once again showed why they are in playoff contention, and Tampa Bay isn’t.

Brad Boxberger, who got two key outs the previous day, took the mound for Tampa Bay. Yet unlike Thursday, Boxberger promptly walked Jonathan Schoop and Pedro Alvarez, then hit Matt Wieters with a 1-2 pitch — loading the bases with none out. With Baltimore’s fans loudly singing the chorus Seven Nation Army, Hardy hit a ground ball deep into the hole at short. And while Alexei Ramirez fielded the play cleanly, he couldn’t fire off a throw to any of the bases — consequently allowing the tying run to score. Bourn then followed with a sac-fly to left, making it 5-4. Boxberger and Ryan Garton paired up for the final two outs of the from, but the damage was already done.

Zach Britton, the league’s only closer without a blown save, took the mound for the Orioles in the ninth and was able to keep his streak alive. Steven Souza Jr. came close to handing Britton his first blown save of the season, working an 11-pitch at-bat before flying out to the warning track in left for the second out. Undeterred, Mikie Mahtook singled off second base before Ramirez lined a base hit into the left-field corner on a 3-2 pitch. Mahtook, who was off with the pitch, tried to score all the way from first, but was thrown out at the plate to end the game.

Rays fall, 5-4.

The New What Next

Matt Andriese (7-7, 4.46 ERA) will take the mound for the Rays, opposite of Chris Tillman (16-5, 3.68 ERA) in the third game of the set. Andriese Snapped a 17-game, eight-start dry spell with solid start on Sunday against the Yankees, allowing one run in five innings. He is 0-3 with a 9.24 in five games (two starts) against the Orioles. Tillman has struggled a bit, going 2-3 with a 5.68 ERA in six games following a 14-2, 3.18 ERA start to the season. Saturday marks his 25th career start against Tampa Bay, over which he is 8-9, with a 4.09 ERA, having allowed 156 baserunners in 141 innings. You can read more about the pitching matchup, in our series preview.

Rays 9/17/16 Starting Lineup

Forsythe 2B
Kiermaier CF
Longoria 3B
Miller SS
Dickerson DH
Souza RF
Shaffer 1B
Mahtook LF
Casali C
Andriese RHP

Noteworthiness

— Kevin Kiermaier currently has a 22 defensive runs saved (DRS) rating, good enough for third in Major League Baseball. It should be noted, hose ahead of him have played at least 50 more games this season.

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