Rays can't capitalize on Rasmussen's rebound

ST. PETERSBURG -- After a rare clunker of a start in Texas on Monday, Rays starter Drew Rasmussen gave himself 24 hours to vent. He’d walked the first three batters he faced on his way to allowing five runs in three innings, and he just wanted one day to let out all his frustration before moving on to his next outing.

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Rasmussen officially put that rough start behind him with a seven-inning gem on Saturday afternoon, but it wound up being another frustrating day for the Rays. Their lineup whiffed on a few key scoring opportunities, and their injury-depleted bullpen gave up a two-run lead in the eighth inning of a 3-2 loss to the White Sox at Tropicana Field.

“Our bullpen is so good, turning it over to anyone's never in question,” Rasmussen said. “It stinks what ended up happening today, but those guys down there, they do such a great job. And so coming out in the seventh, there was nothing but confidence with whoever was coming in behind us.”

And there was no question Rasmussen’s day was done after seven innings -- not after his longest outing since his college days at Oregon State. He said he came off the mound “pretty pumped,” because it was awesome to finish the seventh. But as soon as he reached the home dugout at Tropicana Field, manager Kevin Cash shook his hand. His day was done.

Rasmussen had plenty of reason to believe in Tampa Bay’s bullpen, but it was without several key relievers on Saturday -- and not just the top high-leverage arms on the injured list like Andrew Kittredge and J.P. Feyereisen, among others. Jason Adam pitched Wednesday and Thursday and warmed up Friday, and Matt Wisler threw 25 pitches on Friday.

So Cash turned to left-hander Brooks Raley to start the eighth inning, and the White Sox began deploying their right-handed bench bats. Adam Engel hit a bloop double to left field, which Vidal Bruján called for as he drifted back toward left fielder Randy Arozarena. But the ball ticked off Bruján’s glove, and Engel raced to second for a leadoff double.

Raley struck out Yasmani Grandal, then allowed an RBI single to Danny Mendick, cutting the Rays’ lead in half. Lefty Jalen Beeks and rookie righty Calvin Faucher had been warming up, and when Cash summoned Beeks, the White Sox countered with right-handed pinch-hitter Jake Burger. Beeks left a 1-0 changeup up and over the plate, and Burger blasted it to center field for a go-ahead homer.

“I think Brooks had some bad luck. He made some really good pitches and they didn't square many up, but they found holes for sure,” Cash said. “Beeker's done a really nice job for us. It looked like the guy had an approach, probably looking to drive a baseball, got a pitch he could handle, 1-0, and took the lead for them.”

It was just the second time this season the Rays lost when leading after seven innings, which they also did May 22 in Baltimore, and it let a wonderful outing by Rasmussen go to waste. The right-hander breezed through a career-high seven innings on 81 pitches, joining Shane McClanahan as the only Rays with a scoreless seven-inning start this season and giving Tampa Bay’s starters a Major League-best 2.22 ERA dating back to May 11.

As good as Beeks had been this year, he hasn’t entered many high-leverage situations late in games, much less with runners on base. In that way, Saturday was an example of the way recent injuries have shifted some of the responsibilities in Tampa Bay’s bullpen. Beeks said the situation didn’t affect him, though; he just didn’t execute his pitch.

“I'm pretty frustrated with the results, but I'm going to keep the process the same,” Beeks said. “In the end, you're still coming out there and you're facing the same guys, whatever the score is. And whatever the situation is, you're just in there to get outs [and] make the best pitches you can.”

The three-run eighth inning was enough for the White Sox, as the Rays couldn’t capitalize on the season-high-tying eight walks they drew, including seven against Chicago starter Dylan Cease. They loaded the bases with two outs in the second only for Kevin Kiermaier to cap a 10-pitch battle with a hard groundout to second base.

The Rays had another chance in the eighth, putting runners on the corners with one out against reliever Kendall Graveman. All the Rays needed from Bruján to tie the game in that situation was a ground ball, considering how unlikely it was the speedster would hit into a double play. Instead, Bruján struck out on a 2-2 fastball well above the zone, and Graveman was out of the inning unscathed two batters later.

“I was looking for a good pitch to hit and a good swing, and I didn't put a good swing and swung on a bad pitch,” Bruján said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “I wasn't able to get the job done there.”