Rays shut out again as they drop another at home.
The Tampa Bay Rays looked to even the series with the Royals on Wednesday night but fell short, getting shut out in the process. The Rays’ woes at George M. Steinbrenner Field continued and the second loss in as many days dropped their record to 14-16. Their record in their temporary home ballpark now sits at 9-12. Across their last 15 home games, they are just 5-10. Whether it is the dimensions, atmosphere, weather, or a curse placed on the locker room by the Yankees before they departed for New York earlier this spring, the minor league park has been anything but a field of dreams for the Rays.
For the second consecutive night, the Rays faced an early deficit as starter, Drew Rasmussen, surrendered a first inning, two run bomb to Vinnie Pasquantino. The homer gave the Royals an early 2-0 lead and all the runs they would need for the night.
Rasmussen surrendered the only other run of the game in his fifth and final inning of work on a RBI-single off the bat of Bobby Witt Jr. The Rays starter went five innings, surrendered six hits, struck out three, and walked one. With no run support to his name, he took the loss, his second of the year.
Opposite Rasmussen was Noah Cameron making his debut, and it was a good one. The 25-year-old southpaw recalled to make a spot start in place of Cole Ragans, held the Rays hitless into the 7th and secured 29 outs before Curtis Mead finally snuck a ground ball by the third baseman and down the left field line. Cameron was then lifted, but earned his first win as a big-leaguer. Over 6.1 innings, he allowed just the one hit, walked five, and struck out three.
The Rays bats were quiet again from the jump and their struggles against LHP continued. Yandy, Mead, Misner, and Aranda all collected singles and all came in the seventh inning or later. With runners in scoring position, the Rays went 0-8 and were unable to cash in any of the free passes offered up by Cameron.
Atop the Rays lineup, Simpson, Diaz, Morel, Caminero, and Lowe combined to go 1-18. The lineup as a whole went without an extra base hit.
That is the story of the game, and seemingly the story of the season for the Rays, at least when they are playing at home this season. The offense just doesn’t look the same and they got burned by a long ball.
With the loss, they remain tied for third with the Blue Jays and 3.5 games out of first. Baz will toe the rubber tomorrow as the Rays look to salvage one game of this series prior to departing for Yankee stadium, a shockingly welcome sight.