What went right, and wrong, over the Rays' first 7 games

ST. PETERSBURG -- Last season the Rays literally couldn’t lose over the first two weeks of the year. It was the beginning of a 99-win regular season for Tampa Bay, but that brilliant start ultimately led to a bitter ending as the Rays were swept in the AL Wild Card Series vs. the Rangers.

It’s difficult (or foolish?) to draw conclusions with less than 5% of the season completed. But as the Rays wrapped up their season-opening seven-game homestand Wednesday with a 4-1 loss against Texas, let’s take stock of how things have looked at the plate and on the mound so far.

As their 3-4 record indicates, it has been a bit of a mixed bag.

The offense isn’t quite clicking, but there are positives
If Tampa Bay wants to be as potent at the plate as it was last season when it had the fourth-best OPS in the Majors (.776), it will need significant contributions from the likes of Brandon Lowe, Harold Ramírez and Isaac Paredes. So far, that trio is 11-for-62 (.177) with 19 strikeouts. And Lowe exited Wednesday’s game in the sixth inning due to left side tightness. Although the ailment isn’t considered worrisome, the Rays are already short-handed from the left side of the plate with Josh Lowe and Jonathan Aranda currently on the injured list.

On the bright side, the Rays flexed their dual-threat ability during the season’s first week; they entered Wednesday as only the second team in the Modern Era (since 1900) with a homer and stolen base in each of its first six games, joining Cleveland in 1998.

José Caballero picked up his third stolen base of the year against Texas and almost extended the Rays’ streak to a record-setting seven when he belted a fastball from Rangers closer José Leclerc to left-center, but it fell just a couple of feet shy of being a game-tying dinger.

Six Rays have gone deep this season, including two blasts each for Paredes and Randy Arozarena. Although the club heads out on a road trip with a .682 OPS, the Rays have faith that there’s more production to come given the solid contact they have made so far. Their 45.8% hard-hit rate entering Wednesday ranked fifth in MLB.

“I mean, we've hit the ball really hard,” Brandon Lowe said prior to Wednesday’s game. “... There's a lot of positives to take away, especially after Spring Training. Being outside, playing outside all the time, then playing one game here with the lights and the turf and adjusting as well as our guys have done -- It's not the win-loss column like it was last year, but certainly we're playing really good baseball. There’s a lot to look forward to."

Starting pitching: on track; relief pitching: erratic
Aaron Civale twirled six innings of one-run ball and struck out eight Rangers in an outing that was similar to his victory over the Blue Jays in the second game of the season. His latest effort followed a superb outing from Zach Eflin, a good debut by Ryan Pepiot and a dominant performance by Zack Littell.

That group has generally pitched as expected.

The relievers? Anything but.

The Rays’ pitching philosophy is based around trusting your stuff and throwing strikes. Consider that in each of the previous three seasons, the Rays logged a top-15 strike percentage among all staffs dating back to the start of the Pitch Tracking Era (since 2008). Prior to Wednesday’s game, their 62.3% strike rate was tied for 26th in the Majors. That’s due in large part to a relief corps that owned an unsightly 6.9 BB/9 rate entering Wednesday. Since manager Kevin Cash took over in 2015, the Rays’ bullpen BB/9 rate is 3.1, second only to the Dodgers over that span.

“I fully believe, looking back on these first seven games, the walks are going to be an anomaly,” said reliever Jason Adam. “We are passionate about it here; we want to attack the zone. We want to be in charge from pitch one.”

The Rays will fly Thursday to Colorado for their first road series, a three-game set beginning Friday against the Rockies at Coors Field, a venue they haven’t played at since 2016. They take to the air with a few things to hang their hat on and a few things to iron out. But as Cash stressed following Wednesday’s loss, the Rays’ current position isn’t a unique one.

“I try not to put too much judgment in a six, seven-game stretch. I liked some things that we did, and I’d like to think that we can improve on some other things,” Cash said. “But I'm guessing most teams are saying that.”