Rays' traffic stalls as RISP chances turned aside

ST. PETERSBURG -- The ball came off Yandy Díaz’s bat at 106.3 mph, ripped into right-center field and seemingly bound to take a bounce or two into the yellow “382” on the wall in right-center field.

With fast runners on first and second base with two outs in the eighth inning, both likely to score on a ball in the gap, it seemed the Rays had finally found their big, game-changing hit after a long night of frustrating at-bats and stranded baserunners.

“Off the bat, I thought it was an easy double,” Díaz said through interpreter Manny Navarro.

Then Yankees center fielder Trent Grisham came dashing into the frame, reached out his gloved right hand and snagged the ball before it could touch the artificial turf at Tropicana Field. Another scoring opportunity came and went, and another game got away from Tampa Bay.

The Rays finished 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base, converting 16 baserunners into just one run and wasting a strong start by Zach Eflin in a 2-1 loss to the Yankees on Wednesday night.

“We did a lot of good things, had some good at-bats to get guys on base,” manager Kevin Cash said, “but just couldn't find a way to get that big hit to get us back in the ballgame.”

It was a familiar story for the Rays, who fell to 45-47 after losing for the fourth time in their last five games. They are 4-for-34 with RISP in those five games, and Wednesday was the second time during that stretch they’ve gone 0-for-10 or worse in those situations, as they also went 0-for-10 on Friday night in Texas.

Overall this season, the Rays are batting just .234 with a .689 OPS with runners in scoring position, the seventh-worst average and fourth-worst OPS in the Majors in those situations.

“That's simply frustrating. It's frustrating,” Díaz said. “Nobody wants to fail, and I think we failed a few times today. We were all trying to do the best that we could, but that's the game.”

The Rays gave themselves plenty of chances, piling on so many baserunners that it often felt like they, not the Yankees, should have been working to protect a lead. They racked up 10 hits, all singles -- their most in a game with one run or less since July 19, 2023, at Texas -- worked five walks and had a hit batter.

But the Rays’ 12 runners left on base were tied for their second-most this season, trailing only the 13 they stranded last Thursday in Kansas City. In fact, it was the fourth time in their last seven games that they left double-digit men on base.

“Liked our at-bats getting on base, but then they executed some big pitches,” Cash said. “Felt like they were making some big pitches with two outs just about every inning.”

That was, indeed, the case most of the night. After scoring one run on two singles and a fielder’s-choice grounder in the fifth, the Rays loaded the bases with one out against Yankees starter Marcus Stroman. But lefty reliever Tim Hill came on, struck out Josh Lowe and retired Randy Arozarena, ending the threat.

“I've got to be better than that,” Lowe said. “Just got to find a way to advance the ball, get it moving forward so they have to make a play and get guys in.”

The Rays put two on against Hill to begin the sixth, but Ben Rortvedt struck out after two unsuccessful bunt attempts. In came right-hander Luke Weaver, who got Taylor Walls to hit into an inning-ending double play on his first pitch.

They had two on and one out in the seventh, only for Lowe to fly out and Arozarena to strike out against Weaver. Then came Díaz’s two-on, two-out lineout off Yankees closer Clay Holmes in the eighth, a fittingly frustrating coda.

“It sucks not to get guys in. I'm very frustrated with the way today's game went,” Lowe said. “The game gives you opportunities. You've got to capitalize. The team who capitalizes the most is the team that's gonna win ballgames. We didn't do that today.”

But Tampa Bay was never out of the game, thanks mostly to Eflin. The veteran right-hander put together his sixth quality start of the season, holding the Yankees to two runs (one earned) and allowing only two hard-hit balls over a season-high-tying seven innings.

Still, Eflin said afterward it was “hard to feel good” about his performance in a loss.

“Baseball is going to baseball. It just felt like it wasn't our night,” Eflin said. “We have an opportunity to win the series tomorrow, and we look forward to it.”