McClanahan Gives Up 3 Homers For First Time in Rays' 7-1 Loss to Blue Jays
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A series that started with such promise ended with a thud on Sunday when the Toronto Blue Jays knocked round ace Shane McClanahan and rolled the Tampa Bay Rays 7-1 in the final regular season game at Tropicana Field this year.
The Rays, who scored 10 runs each night in Thursday and Friday wins over the Blue Jays to regain the lead in the American League wild-card race, couldn't hit anything again on Sunday, scoring just one run for the second day in a row.
Feast or famine, for sure.
"We put the ball in play hard and had good some good at-bats, but we just couldn't drive runs in and string enough things together to put runs on the board. That's kind of how the game works sometimes,'' Rays second baseman Tyler Walls said. "Just a few days ago we were asking about momentum because we scored 10 runs. That's just baseball. Every is going to be different. Sometimes you're going to score 10, sometimes you're going to get 12 hits and score two.
"Not winning today hurts a little but, but everybody in this room has confidence that we can win some games going forward. We're still a confident group, and we know what we can control.''
With the loss, the Rays fell to 84-69 on the season, and are now two games behind the Blue Jays in the AL wild-card race with nine games to go. But they got plenty of help from the teams behind them, with Seattle blowing an eight-run lead at Kansas City and losing 13-12. Baltimore also lost late, losing 6-3 to Houston in 11 innings.
The Rays remain 4.5 games ahead of Baltimore and a half-game ahead of Seattle. Their magic number is down to five.
After an off day on Monday, the Rays begin a final nine-game road trip to end the season, with three games at Cleveland, Houston and Boston. There is still work to be done, both to secure a postseason bid but also in catching Toronto to get the No. 4 seed, the top wild-card spot, so they can host the first-round best-of-three series.
It's a goal worth chasing because the Rays have been very good at home this season. Despite the losses on Saturday and Sunday, they finished 51-30 at the Trop, a .636 winning percentage. They are just 33-39 on the road
Sunday's result was a bit of a surprise with ace Shane McClanahan on the mound. He allowed three home runs for the first time in his career. He allowed four runs in five innings, giving up six hits and walking too batters. He struggled with his command, with only 46 of his 76 pitches for strikes.
It was his second straight rough outing. He allowed five runs in four innings on Tuesday against Houston, and left in the fifth with a stiff neck. He said he's perfectly healthy, but just struggled with his command.
"It was frustrating, obviously. I feel like I've had a lot of success this year, but this game is very humbling,'' McClanahan said. "Recently, I've had a lot of unfortunate outcomes, and it reminds you that you need to keep working hard. I need to attack and be relentless in the zone. I feel fine.''
McClanahan gave up a second-inning home run to Alejandro Kirk on a 1-2 fastball right over the heart of the plate. He gave up two more in the third when George Springer hit a two-run homer after a Raimel Tapia single. He fell behind 2-0 and then grooved a slider that Springer hit hard. Springer hit his second homer of the day on a 3-1 pitch, making it 4-0 in the fifth inning.
"He was just falling behind hitters and didn't have his best command,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "George Springer is a good player, and when Shane fell behind, he made us pay. He's healthy, his stuff tells us that, he's just not as sharp. his command is off. It's fair to expect when you miss 15 days he comes back and yes he was lights out for five innings, but the last two outings the command hasn't been there.
''But we're also confident he can get that back. I think Shane is fully aware that he has to get ahead of good hitters. I'm very confident he will make that adjustment.''
The Rays' only run came in the third inning, when Taylor Walls doubled, went to third on a ground ball and scored on a Randy Arozarena sacrifice fly.
Next up is a trip to Cleveland to take on the Guardians, who have won seven games in a row and clinched the AL Central division on Sunday. There are plenty of great storylines to look forward to.
Rays pitcher Corey Kluber, who starts on Tuesday, will be pitching in Cleveland for the first time since ending his 10-year career there in 2019. And it's highly likely that Tampa Bay star Tyler Glasnow will start on Wednesday, more than 14 months after his last appearance after rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.
"We've got to find a way to keep playing good baseball and winning games,'' Cash said. He still have a lot of work to do.''
Tom Brew is the publisher of Inside The Rays, and has been with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation network for three years. He is an award-winning writer and editor who has spent most of his four-decade career at the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has written four books.