Rays' bats produce 'much-needed' breakout
BALTIMORE -- After four frustrating nights, the Rays’ lineup finally found something to feel good about Saturday at Camden Yards.
Limited to only four runs over their previous four games, the Rays erased an early deficit and eased some of their slumping hitters’ stress levels with a four-run third inning followed by a two-run fifth. And when their pitching and defense faltered, the middle-of-the-order bats came through again in the ninth inning of a 7-6 win over the Orioles that snapped their four-game losing streak.
“A game like today was much-needed,” Ji-Man Choi, who hit a two-run homer in the fifth and singled as part of the game-winning rally, said through interpreter Daniel Park. “Everyone was just trying to win today.”
Of course, trying harder doesn’t always guarantee success in baseball. Hitting coach Chad Mottola acknowledged before the game that some of Tampa Bay’s hitters were putting too much pressure on themselves at the plate amid a series of key injuries and a collective slump. And the Rays’ offensive issues moved squarely into the spotlight over the previous four days; considering they lost each game by one or two runs, a timely hit or two could have been the difference.
“A couple broken-bat hits,” Mottola said before the game, “and you breathe a little bit easier.”
The Rays racked up 14 hits and 14 hard-hit balls on Saturday, so they were hardly just blooping the ball around the ballpark. But they pulled ahead thanks to a smart approach and good execution against Orioles starter Kyle Bradish, and they did so for good in the ninth with a similar keep-the-line-moving mentality.
“We needed every one of them,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
Francisco Mejía (who had a career-high four hits) and Kevin Kiermaier began the third inning with consecutive opposite-field singles, then Manuel Margot drove them in with an opposite-field double. Yandy Díaz smacked a single off the glove of shortstop Jorge Mateo, then he and Margot scored on another opposite-field double by Harold Ramirez.
In the fifth, Díaz doubled on a first-pitch fastball before Choi hammered a 1-0 changeup out to right-center for his sixth home run of the season. By that point, the Rays had scored more runs than they totaled over their previous 40 innings.
“I was happy that we were able to lay off some balls out of the zone and capitalize on balls in the zone,” Cash said. “It looked like we had a solid approach and awareness to what [Bradish] was trying to accomplish out there.”
But the Orioles made it a three-run game in the fifth and chased Jeffrey Springs, with Cash noting the lefty looked “a little more human” as he grinded through Saturday’s outing after posting a 1.10 ERA over his previous six starts. Reliever Matt Wisler allowed a two-run single to Robinson Chirinos before Jason Adam escaped the inning. The Orioles tied it in the sixth, capitalizing on a two-out error by shortstop Taylor Walls with a subsequent walk and RBI single against reliever Ryan Thompson.
“Very well could have just thrown in the towel and just said, ‘OK, well, this is just another cruddy game,’” Kiermaier said. “But we didn't panic or anything. We put ourselves in that situation, and we had to claw out of it and try to score more runs there late.”
The Rays came through in the ninth. Díaz worked a walk, Choi slapped a single to left and Randy Arozarena took a Dillon Tate changeup off his left shoulder to load the bases. Ramirez then lifted the first pitch he saw to right field, scoring Díaz and giving the Rays a one-run lead.
After days of watching their pitchers operate with seemingly no margin for error, the Rays’ hitters flipped the script and picked them up.
“It's great to see some finally fall for them. We know they're working hard. They didn't put their head down or anything,” said reliever Colin Poche, who nailed down his fourth save with a perfect ninth. “Hopefully, this just boosts their confidence even more, but we have all the confidence in the world in them.”
The challenge now facing the Rays’ lineup is to sustain what it did Saturday, starting Sunday but especially when Tampa Bay returns home Monday to face the Yankees. The Rays have had the occasional offensive breakout -- six runs last Sunday in Minnesota, 11 runs against the Cardinals on June 8, etc. -- but they still rank among the American League’s least productive offensive clubs.
“We need to just be a little bit more consistent -- easier said than done,” Kiermaier said. “But days like today, hopefully, get something clicking for us, and hopefully we can play to our potential a little bit better here moving forward.”
If the Rays pitch the way they did the previous four days, and hit a little more like they did Saturday, maybe they will.
“We're not getting blown out anywhere along the way, so all we have to do is get a couple of hits and we'll win these games,” Mottola said. “And that's Rays baseball: catch the ball, pitching and then timely hitting.”