Snell the latest Rays pitcher to struggle
Lefty gets knocked out in fifth as Tampa Bay drops fourth straight
DETROIT -- Since giving up a career-high seven runs on May 1 against Kansas City, Blake Snell has been the ace that everybody expects him to be, allowing just six runs over his next five starts.
On Tuesday against the Tigers, Snell didn’t have the same success, allowing six runs over just 4 1/3 innings in the Rays’ 9-6 loss to Detroit at Comerica Park. Snell allowed one run in the first inning, but it appeared that the left-hander had settled in after escaping a two-on, one-out jam in the second. Snell struck out eight and continued to pound the strike zone (65 of his 95 pitches landed for strikes), but Detroit started a rally in the fifth inning with three consecutive one-out hits and a walk, capped by Miguel Cabrera’s grand slam, which ended Snell’s outing.
“[Blake] got his strikeouts, but I also think the Tigers' hitters did a good job of spoiling pitches, got his pitch count up, laid off some pitches that we generally see a lot of clubs swing at,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “They made some adjustments, but obviously the big blow came from maybe one of the game’s best. But what they did to get to that situation and 90 pitches in 4 1/3 is just not ideal for any of our pitchers, especially not Blake.”
Snell didn’t have much to say after the game, but just continuously stated that he needs to get better. He fell to 3-5 with a 3.68 ERA.
“I’ve just got to get better,” Snell said. “That’s it. Got to get better.”
While Snell was the culprit on Tuesday, Tampa Bay's pitching staff as a whole has not been the dominant force it was through the first two months of the season. The Rays went into Tuesday’s game leading the Majors with a 2.98 ERA, but they have allowed five or more runs in each of their four consecutive losses, their longest such streak this season. In that span, they have allowed 29 runs on 47 hits. Before this stretch, Tampa Bay had yielded three runs or fewer in nine consecutive games.
“We’re in a rough stretch right now,” Cash said. “We’re not playing very good baseball. We’re not giving ourselves the best chance to go out there, from offense to defense to pitching, all of it. And that’s why you can kind of sum up that we’ve had four losses in a row.
“We have to just flip it around, go out and hope for a good start [Wednesday] from Charlie [Morton], who has been really good for us, and get the bats going a little bit.”
The pitching hasn’t been the only thing struggling for the Rays. While they scored seven runs on Sunday against the Twins and six on Tuesday, most of those have come late in the games with Tampa Bay facing a large deficit.
Avisail Garcia, who returned to the lineup after missing three games with left hamstring soreness, provided the only offense against Tigers starter Ryan Carpenter, connecting on a two-run home run in the third inning, his 11th of the season. Garcia, who is third on the team with a .896 OPS, has proven to be a great free-agent acquisition for the Rays.
Willy Adames, who was an international signing by the Tigers in 2012 and was acquired by the Rays in '14 as part of the David Price trade, connected on a grand slam to cut the deficit to 9-6 in the eighth inning. It was Adames’ fifth home run of the season and the first grand slam of his career.
“I feel like I’m getting my timing back,” Adames said. “Just trying to help the team to win.”
But while the slam helped the Rays make the ninth inning a little more exciting, the final score doesn’t indicate just how one-sided the game was. With 20 games in the next 19 days, Tampa Bay is looking to fight some midseason adversity.
“You’re not always going to win, but I feel like we haven’t had that losing streak yet this season, and I think this is the worst moment of the whole season,” Adames said. “I know we’re going to get through this.”