TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays' impressive seven-game winning streak ended with a thud on Friday night. And it was an open and shut case.
The Rays lost 7-1 to the Cleveland Guardians at Steinbrenner Field, their first defeat since Aug. 27. They are now 71-70, and remain two games out of the American League wild-card race since Seattle lost at Atlanta 4-1.
The Rays used an opener for the first time all year, something they used to do often after inventing the concept. Reliever Griffin Jax — who's been struggling to find his way since coming to Tampa Bay in a trade from Minnesota — started and pitched a scoreless first, despite giving up two one-out singles.
Ian Seymour, who joined the rotation on Aug. 25 and won his first two starts, came in to do the bulk work in the second inning, but he was in trouble from the start — and much of it was self-induced.
Seymour made an error to open the inning on a Gabriel Arias dribbler down the first base line, and then he also walked a batter and hit another one. But then Stephen Kwan had a two-RBI single and Jose Ramirez laced a two-RBI double. David Fry singled to left with two outs, and suddenly it was 5-0.
That was all the Guardians needed.
Seymour pitched three scoreless innings after that, but the Rays offense never threatened. They only scored once — Junior Caminero hit a solo home run, his 41st, in the sixth inning — but the Rays only had seven hits and were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
It was a big of a departure from their hot streak over the past 12 games, where they went 10-2 and scored 73 runs, more than 6 per game.
The two teams continue the series on Saturday night, with Shane Baz (9-11, 4.98 ERA) getting the start for the Rays. Tanner Bibee (9-11, 4.77 ERA) will start for the Guardians. The game begins at 7:05 p.m. ET. Sunday's series finale is at 12:10 p.m. ET.
With just 21 games remaining, the Rays need to get over this loss quickly and continue their winning ways. Seattle is still just two behind, but it's a logjam for that final spot. The Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals, who both won Friday night, are a half-game and one game behind the Mariners, respectively. And even the Guardians are still very much in the mix. They are only a half-game behind the Rays.
So the one Friday loss needs to be just a blip on the radar.
“I think if we go 7-1 for the rest of the games we have, we'll be in a good spot,” Rays right fielder Josh Lowe told reporters after the game. “So we'll show up ready to go (Saturday), expect to win and play hard.”
And Seymour admitted that not coming out to start the game meant nothing. He's worked as a reliever for the Rays with great success, and even had a few minor-league ''starts'' where he came in behind an opener. But the error, walk and hit-batter exacerbated the situation.
“I've found rhythm out of the bullpen plenty of times this year, but it's just not something that I had today,'' Seymour said. “You just can't walk the nine hitter in that situation. It's probably a different story if I just execute with two strikes in that at-bat.
“If you just don't put guys on base that are the seven through nine hitters, then … there's no one on base when those guys adjust to you,” Seymour said. “I got burned by not executing against the bottom of the lineup.”
This was Seymour's first major-league loss. He's now 3-1. Gavin Williams (10-5) got the win for Cleveland. He's the first Guardians pitcher to reach double digits in wins this season.
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