'Not coming easy': Rays bats can't escape slump

ST. PETERSBURG -- When the Rays visited Minute Maid Park earlier this month, they may have caught the Astros at the right time. They limited Houston’s dangerous but scuffling lineup to four runs in the three-game series and won consecutive games at that ballpark for the first time in seven years.

But the slumping Rays ran into a red-hot Astros team this week, and it showed throughout a three-game sweep capped by an especially frustrating 2-1 loss in 10 innings on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field. Both teams managed only two hits in the series finale, but the Astros made the most of their limited offense while the Rays once again came up short.

“They're down now, because they care a lot, and they're doing everything they can to get out of it. And when you're trying to get out of it, going against the Houston pitching staff is probably not the most ideal thing,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Saying that, we can represent ourselves a little bit better at the plate. I'm very confident in that. It's not coming easy right now.”

While the Astros (65-55) have surged into first place in the American League West with eight straight victories, the Rays (59-61) have dropped nine of their last 13 games to fall 6 1/2 games out of the third and final AL Wild Card spot.

Wednesday’s series finale was also the ninth time in their last 13 games that the Rays scored two runs or fewer. They’ve scored only 34 total runs during this stretch, falling multiple games below .500 for the first time since they were 45-47 entering play on July 11.

This one followed a familiar script. The Rays’ pitching was excellent, from starter Zack Littell to the five relievers who followed him. Their run prevention presented plenty of chances to win. Their lineup didn’t take advantage.

In the end, it was the sixth time in franchise history the Rays lost despite allowing two hits or fewer.

“They've been pitching lights-out even before today,” said shortstop Taylor Walls, who manufactured the Rays’ lone run in the eighth without the club recording a hit in the inning. “They pitched a phenomenal game, put us in position to win. We've got to come through and try to string some better at-bats together, put balls in play.”

Littell fired three perfect innings to begin the game, cruising through the first nine batters he faced on only 35 pitches. The only hit he surrendered came in the fifth, when Jeremy Peña blasted a 3-1 sinker out to left field for a leadoff home run.

Littell’s outing came to a surprisingly early end, as he did not return to the mound for the sixth after throwing only 68 pitches through five. With a rested bullpen and an off-day on Thursday, Cash said the Rays were simply trying to be aggressive while also being mindful of Littell’s significantly increased workload this season.

Littell understood the decision, especially considering how dominant Tampa Bay’s bullpen has been lately.

“Given the time of the year, the workload, where we're at as far as needing to win every single game, Cash has always been aggressive with the bullpen, so I understand it,” Littell said. “I don't make the decisions. … That's what they think is best, and I absolutely understand why, and they're very upfront with it afterward.”

The Rays’ relievers held up their end of the bargain. Edwin Uceta, Kevin Kelly, Manuel Rodríguez and Pete Fairbanks each pitched a hitless inning, extending the bullpen’s scoreless streak to 15 2/3 consecutive innings heading into the 10th before left-hander Garrett Cleavinger allowed automatic runner Pedro León to score on a two-out single by Mauricio Dubón.

“For it to kind of come down to that, you kind of feel like you let everyone down, and it's a tough one to swallow,” Cleavinger said. “But I know this group is going to keep doing what they're doing, and hopefully we can come up on the other end of some of those games.”

For that to happen, the Rays will need more offense than they showed while being swept for the fifth time this season.

Astros starter Ronel Blanco and four Houston relievers limited the Rays to two singles and three walks. Tampa Bay went hitless in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position, and Josh Hader put the game away by retiring each of their final six hitters in order.

“That's frustrating, there's no doubt. You can appreciate the last couple innings [because of] the guys that [the Astros] were pitching on the other side,” Cash said. “But either way, we've got to have better at-bats. We've got to put more pressure, and we've got to give our pitchers a little bit more coverage, margin of error to work with.”