Despite two homers from Taveras, Rangers stymied by red-hot Rays

ST. PETERSBURG -- Following his first career multi-home run game, Rangers center fielder Leody Taveras lamented a shaky defensive play that opened the door for Friday night’s 8-3 loss against the Rays at Tropicana Field in a battle of teams with the Major Leagues' two best records.

Locked in a 1-1 tie in the third inning, Rays slugger Harold Ramírez hit a bases-empty, two-out deep drive to center, which Taveras lost in The Trop’s white roof. Taveras stood flat-footed, just short of the warning track, as Ramírez's blast hit halfway up the center-field wall.

“I just took my eyes off it,’’ Taveras said. “Here, you cannot do that. When you lose it, you just have to stay [in position] until you find it again.’’

Had he not lost sight of the ball, would Taveras have made the catch?

“Yeah, for sure,’’ he said.

Ramírez's double led to much more. On a 3-2 pitch to Randy Arozarena, Rangers starter Andrew Heaney missed badly when a slider slipped out of his left hand. Rays third baseman Isaac Paredes followed with a two-out, two-strike, three-run homer, making it 4-1. Heaney said the home-run pitch was a poorly located cutter.

“[The pitch had] too much plate,’’ said Heaney, who also surrendered another two-strike hit to Paredes -- an RBI double -- in the first inning.

“I felt like I created some trouble for myself,’’ Heaney said. “After [Taveras] hit a homer to tie us up, I give up a crooked number there [in the third] and kind of takes us out of it. It’s so frustrating.’’

Paredes (3-for-4, two homers, six RBIs, 10 total bases) struck again with a two-run homer in the sixth off hard-luck reliever Spencer Howard, who made his season debut after returning from the 60-day injured list. Howard faced seven batters and the first six reached base. Yandy Díaz hit a deep fly ball to left before Rangers manager Bruce Bochy made a change with his team trailing 8-1.

“Just one pitch [to Paredes] really kept Andrew from really having a pretty nice game,’’ Bochy said. “I’m sure he’d like to have that one back. The Rays are a good team and they took advantage of it.

“Spencer was just missing on some sliders. His nerves might have been going there a little bit. The kid worked hard to get back up here and we’re not going to [pass judgment] on one outing, trust me. He’ll get a little break, then we’ll get him back out there.’’

Bochy said the Rangers' bats were “really quiet tonight’’ with just three hits (following a four-hit shutout loss against the Cardinals on Wednesday). But they were all homers -- two by Taveras and a ninth-inning shot by third baseman Josh Jung, who is tied with Arizona's Corbin Carroll for the lead among MLB rookies with 13 homers.

Taveras, who entered the game on a 4-for-26 skid, said the two-homer performance was a confidence-builder.

“The last few days, it has been a struggle,’’ Taveras said. “I just have to keep going. I just haven’t had good timing at the plate. Tonight, it was much better and I had better [results].’’

Jung, the American League Rookie of the Month in both April and May, has compiled his gaudy offensive statistics after recovering from foot and shoulder injuries in the past two seasons.

"The kid has played great baseball all year and he hasn’t let up,’’ Bochy said. “He has played a great third base. I’m going to have to pick my spots to give him a break.

"He has missed a lot of time [in the previous two seasons] and that’s what’s impressive. He really didn’t have all that many at-bats in professional baseball. He has had a good spring and just a really nice year.’’

The Rangers (40-22) will try to avoid their first three-game losing streak since they lost four in a row from April 24-27, as they meet the Rays (47-19) in the middle game of the three-game set Saturday.