Rays Can't Overcome Rangers' 4-Pitch Rally, Lose 4-3 to Start Final Homestand
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Three-plus hours of baseball was basically decided in a matter of seconds on Friday night when the Texas Rangers got to Tampa Bay starter Corey Kluber for four runs on four pitches.
It was that fast. Tick, tick, tick.
In the third inning, Corey Seager touched the veteran right-hander for a two-run double with two outs and then, just three pitches later, Nathaniel Lowe slammed a two-run homer into the seats in left-center at Tropicana Field. The Rangers did nothing else all night long, but the four runs were enough to hold on for a 4-3 victory in the first game of a critical three-game series that starts the Rays' final homestand of the year.
For Lowe, a former Ray who had lots of friends and family in the stands, it was his 25th homer of the season and was the fourth of five straight hits in the inning, and was reminiscent to Kluber's last start, when he game up six runs in the first inning against the New York Yankees last Saturday.
Kluber is now 10-9 on the season, with a 4.44 ERA that's ballooned a lot this week after giving up 10 runs in 6 1/3 innings.
"The pitch to Seager wasn't a bad pitch, you have to tip your hat to him. I didn't execute the pitch to Lowe and he did what he's supposed to do," Kluber said. "Two pitches, or I guess one pitch that I was really disappointed with, to be honest. That's how it goes sometimes."
The Rays gave themselves plenty of chances to get back into the game, but left 12 men on base. They had runners on in every inning but the eighth, but were just 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
Catcher Francisco Mejia had a big night for Tampa Bay. He was 3-for-4 with two doubles, and drove in a run in the second with a single to right as part of a two-run rally. He doubled down the left field line in the sixth inning to make it 4-3, but the Rays squandered every chance from there forward. They left two runners on in the sixth, another in the seventh, and the game ended with Harold Ramirez grounding out into the hole with the bases loaded in the ninth inning.
“We had the right guy up there, but we just couldn't quite find that hole. We've got to play a little bit better,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “We're a better offense than what we've shown here as of late.
"That's what it kind of comes down to. When you get those guys on base, got to find ways to do whatever we can to add a couple more runs for our pitching staff.”
It was the Rays' sixth loss in the past eight games, and dropped them to 80-64 on the season. The good news, though, was that the Baltimore Orioles lost to Toronto, so the Rays are still 4 1/2 games clear in the American League wild-card race.
The tough part of Friday's loss was that the Rays had so many chances but couldn't finish it off.
“It's part of the game, and you can't control a lot of things. Of course it's tough,” outfielder Manuel Margot said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “With runners on base, you hope that you can get those runs.
"But that's why you come back tomorrow and come back ready.''
Rangers starter Martin Perez (12-6) got the win, giving up three runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings. He beat the Rays earlier this year, too, pitching seven scoreless innings and allowing just two hits back in late May. Jose Leclerq pitched the ninth for his sixth save.
Kluber's night ended in the sixth, and he finished with four runs and nine hits allowed. It was the second straight game where he had allowed eight hits or more, that first time that's happened since 2018.
The Rays were great otherwise. Relievers Garrett Cleavinger, Colin Poche and JT Chargois combined to pitch 3 1/3 perfect innings, retiring 10 Rangers in a row and givng the Rays a chance to get back into the game.
They just couldn't get it done.
“We had guys on base; we weren't able to get them in,'' Mejia said through Navarro. "A day like yesterday — (an 11-0 win over Toronto) — we were able to accomplish that. That's just the game and the way it is.''
Mejia thought Kluber pitched well outside of those pitches to Seager and Lowe.
”“I don't think anyone else really made [good] contact,” he said. Navarro, “but I think those two pitches actually decided the game.”
The two teams meet again on Saturday night at Tropicana Field. Right-hander Shawn Armstrong will be the ''opener'' for the Rays, with lefty Ryan Yarbrough expected to get the bulk of the innings. Jon Gray (7-6, 3.79 ERA) will start for the Rangers.
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.