One unfortunate pitch difference maker vs. Rangers

ARLINGTON -- The Rays spent all night Friday and most of Saturday afternoon waiting and searching for one big hit to spark their lineup.

They finally got one from Yandy Díaz in the seventh inning, only to immediately give up an even bigger one.

After Díaz ripped a go-ahead three-run homer to left field off reliever Jacob Latz with two outs in the seventh, reliable reliever Kevin Kelly surrendered a game-winning two-run shot to Marcus Semien. The Rays couldn’t muster any more offense and lost 4-3, snapping their streak of series wins at five.

“It's a roller coaster there,” Kelly said. “We're down two, we get the big home run, we're going into a close game. We want to just keep the lead, of course. I'm sure it's the same thing that their guy felt -- not great.”

Just like that, the Rays dropped their second straight game at Globe Life Field -- the first time they’ve lost back-to-back games since June 14-15 -- despite Díaz’s big home run and another strong outing by starter Taj Bradley.

Bradley held Texas to two runs (one earned) on five hits and a pair of walks while striking out five over six efficient innings. That continued an outstanding stretch for the 23-year-old right-hander, who has put together a 1.29 ERA in six starts since a nine-run, 10-out performance in Baltimore on June 1.

Bradley seemed to get better throughout his fourth quality start of the season. He had his best fastball velocity in the fifth and sixth innings, retired each of the last eight batters he faced and struck out four of the last five.

“Another just really strong performance,” manager Kevin Cash said. “The stuff seemed to tick up as he got pitches under his belt. He was throwing some 92-93 mph splits, and the fastball velo started to tick up. Really, really good job again by Taj.”

The Rays didn’t do anything to support Bradley early on. They put two runners on in the first and third innings but couldn’t capitalize against Rangers starter Andrew Heaney, who struck out seven over 5 1/3 scoreless innings. It seemed like they were due to repeat Friday’s frustrating outcome when they stranded 11 men on base and went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

“Simply, we just couldn't put up any runs,” Díaz said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “I think if we would have put up some runs in the first, it probably would have been a completely different game.”

But Díaz delivered in the seventh. Jonny DeLuca led the rally with a single to right and stole second base. Taylor Walls knocked a one-out single to center, then hustled to second on Leody Taveras’ throw to the plate. Up came Díaz, who saw four straight changeups from Latz and lashed the last one out to left to end the Rays’ scoreless streak at 17 innings.

“The guys were pumped. We were all pumped,” Cash said. “Big hit. In the moment, huge hit.”

That moment didn’t last long, however, partly because that inning lasted so long.

Between Bradley’s last pitch to strike out Jonah Heim in the sixth, the Rays sent seven hitters to the plate and saw 29 pitches from three Rangers arms. Bradley had only thrown 79 pitches on the day, and Cash said he would have returned to at least face Taveras in the seventh due to his efficiency, but the long wait changed their plans.

“He always has the best interest for you, so it was an easy decision,” Bradley said of Cash. “But of course, I wanted to go back out there.”

Cash instead turned to Kelly, who entered the game with a 3.35 ERA and 1.01 WHIP on the year. The side-arming right-hander had allowed multiple runs in only four of his first 37 appearances. He gave up a leadoff single to Taveras and struck out the next two batters but left a 1-0 sinker over the plate to Semien.

“Just an unfortunate pitch to a really good hitter, basically,” Kelly said. “Definitely [would] just rather have a better location or a different pitch.”

Kelly was trying to get the pitch down in the zone, hoping Semien would put it on the ground. But the pitch leaked up, and the veteran leadoff man smashed it out to left-center to put the Rangers on top.

“He's been awesome for us, and one pitch got us today,” Cash said. “If we get an opportunity to go back with that matchup, we'll go to it. Semien's just a really good hitter that got a pitch he could handle.”