Cash on bullpen letdown: 'That's on me'

The Rays’ bullpen has been strong all year. But Sunday wasn’t a good day as Tampa Bay lost to the Indians, 3-2, at Progressive Field, snapping its five-game winning streak.

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Combined with Boston's 5-4 win over the Yankees at Fenway Park, the loss dropped the Rays (60-40) one game back of the first-place Red Sox (61-39) in the American League East.

The Rays’ bullpen was taxed after pitching 15 2/3 innings the past three games, in addition to the use of Drew Rasmussen as an opener for three innings in Saturday’s 8-2 win. It didn’t help that right-hander Collin McHugh, arguably Tampa Bay’s best reliever, had gone on the 10-day injured list earlier Sunday with right arm fatigue. So Rays manager Kevin Cash didn’t have many options to try to protect a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning.

In came right-hander Matt Wisler, two days after throwing 35 pitches in Tampa Bay’s 10-5 victory.

Wisler said he was OK to throw Sunday, but he had a tough time getting outs. After allowing a leadoff single to Cesar Hernandez, Wisler hit Amed Rosario with a pitch to put runners on first and second.

Harold Ramirez followed with a single to right field, scoring Hernandez and tying the game at 2-2. Rosario scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Bradley.

After the game, Cash took the blame for the loss.

“I have to give Matt a lot of credit for taking the ball,” Cash said. “We were gassed in the bullpen. He wasn’t as fresh as we would like to keep these guys. That’s on me as much as anything. I appreciate the effort. He left some pitches up. The Indians did a nice job of making adjustments.”

Wisler didn’t make any excuses, saying he was ready to pitch.

“I felt I had enough in me to go out there and get an inning for these guys,” he said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t go that way today. You just have to be ready in this game, especially at the big league level.

“We have guys who are grinding every day, especially our bullpen. The talent that we have, we throw a lot every day. You have to be ready as much as possible and give your team the best chance you can. You want to go out there and give whatever you got that day and see what happens.”

The Rays had a 2-1 lead because of Nelson Cruz, who in his third game with the club made his presence felt in the sixth inning against Indians right-hander Triston McKenzie. Cruz led off with a home run over the center-field fence, his second since joining Tampa Bay. It was also his 438th career home run, which tied him with Andre Dawson for 45th place on the all-time list.

“For Cruz to get on top of that ball, it’s just amazing how talented he is,” Cash said. “That is not supposed to be driven into dead center. It looked like a letter-high fastball coming in the mid-90s. It went out like nothing.”

Cruz’s homer provided a lead for Ryan Yarbrough. The lefty pitched seven strong innings, allowing one run on five hits and one walk while striking out six.

It looked as if Yarbrough was in for a long day after he allowed a leadoff home run to Hernandez in the first inning, followed by a single to Rosario. But he settled down and started confusing the Indians with changeups and cutters.

“Other than [the home run], everything felt really good,” Yarbrough said. “I was keeping guys off-balance. I was really trying to get ahead and stay ahead.”