Surging Orioles Win 10-3, Knock Rays Out of Final Wild-Card Spot
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays fell out of the playoff grid on Friday night, and they fell hard. They got crushed 10-3 by the Baltimore Orioles, who now hold on to the sixth and final playoff spot in the American League instead of the Rays after erupting for 19 hits.
The Rays barely put up a fight in the first of three games with the their AL East rivals. Tampa Bay starter Corey Kluber got knocked around and the Rays' bats, which have gone silent lately, were nowhere to be found. Kluber gave up seven runs and 10 hits, and didn't make it out of the sixth inning.
The Rays are now 58-53 on the season, and sit in fourth place in the AL East. Baltimore is 59-53, a massive improvement from a year ago when they finished 52-110 and had a 1-18 record against Tampa Bay.
It's the first time since Sept. 13, 2017 that the Rays — the two-time defending American League East champions — have been in fourth place or worst in August. It's also the first time since July 1 that they weren't a part of the AL's six-team playoff picture.
Kluber gave up a home run and some hard-hit balls, but the Orioles found plenty of holes with soft contact, too. It all added up in a bad way.
'It was just one of those days, I guess. No doubt it's frustrating because it's resulting in runs and it's hard to win games,'' Kluber said. "There were some hard-hit balls, but there were a lot that just fell in front of guys or were just out of reach, too.
"With that being said, I don't know what else to do. I'm not going to go out and throw 100-mph next time. There were some mistakes, but for the most part there was a lot of good execution but it didn't amount to much.''
The 36-year-old Kluber has started in all six series against Baltimore this season, and it certainly looked like the Orioles hitters had him figured out all night. They were on him right from the start.
Adley Rutschman, Baltimore's star rookie catcher who hits second in the order, got things rolling in the first with a towering home run that rattled off the C-ring in right field, giving the Orioles a 1-0 lead. They added another run in the second when Jorge Mateo's bloop double down the right field line landed just of the reach of two Rays defenders.
Baltimore added another solo run in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly from Rautschman, and then blew the game open in the sixth with four runs, all charged to Kluber.
A double, two singles and a walk buried Kluber, and then when Shawn Armstrong came on in relief, he gave up a single to Cedric Mullins that scored another run, making it 7-0.
The Rays still hadn't gotten a hit by then, but finally got something going in the bottom of the inning. Newly acquired center fielder Jose Siri, was came into the game hitting just 3-for-24 with the Rays, beat out an infield hit to break up the Voth's no-hitter. The next hitter, Randy Arozarena, smashed a long home run to left field to make it 7-2. It was his 14th home run of the season, tying him for the team lead with Isaac Paredes. He has now hit 14 home runs in 35 career games against the Orioles.
Armstrong and reliever Jimmy Yacabonis each allowed a run and infielder Yu Chang actually pitched the ninth, a role formerly filled by Brett Phillips. Phillips actually hit against him, flying out to the warning track in right. Chang allowed a run on two hits.
The 19 hits were the most allowed this season, and the most in a game at Tropicana Field since Boston had 21 hits on Sept. 15, 2017. They were also the most by Baltimore all season. They had 15 hits three times. No. 9 hitter Jorge Mateo had five hits.
The Rays are also struggling to score runs, and had just five hits on Friday night. They know they need to do more, and they know that has to start soon. Saturday would be good.
"We're not getting the results we want, but we're going to continue to put in the work,'' said Rays third baseman Yandy Diaz, who was 1-for-4 on Friday but is just 2-for 29 since July 31. "Teams go up and down, and we've been on the down end, but we just have to keep working.''
The Rays will try to turn things around on Saturday with ace Shane McClanahan (10-5, 2.24 ERA), who will get the start in the 4:10 p.m. ET game. Spenser Watkins (4-2, 4.02 ERA) will start for the Orioles.
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.