Sometimes in baseball you just have to tip your cap, and tonight the Rays found themselves tipping their cap to the A’s in the third base dugout. Both starters were solid, bullpens sharp (for the most part), and the offenses traded blows. Eventually, the A’s did just enough to leave with the victory and series win with still one game remaining. For the Rays, who entered the game in second place just a half game out of first, they finished the night in third place and 1.5 games out.
The recent skid that has now stretched to three consecutive losses and a 5-5 record over their last ten games, comes on the heels of a fantastic month of June that saw them turn their season around.
Shane Baz made his 17th start of the year opposite Jeffrey Springs, the former Rays starter.
The Rays jumped on the board first thanks to a Christopher Morel solo shot to center. It was his seventh blast of the year and gave the Rays an early 1-0 advantage.
Baz, coming off a dominant start against the Royals, carried the momentum into his start tonight and struck out the side in the first, faced the minimum in the second, and struck out two more in the third.
In the bottom half of the third, Brandon Lowe extended his hitting streak to 17 games and. launched a towering blast down the right field line. It eventually landed on the wrap-around concourse and gave the Rays a 2-0 lead. The homer was his 19th of the year.
The A’s came storming back the very next inning and tied the game on a two-run blast off the bat of Max Muncy. . In the sixth, Baz made his second mistake of the night and surrender a solo blast Shea Langeliers, giving the A’s their first lead of the night.
Following a Junior Caminero one-out double in the sixth, Springs departed, giving way to Justin Sterner who promptly worked out of the jam and retired Aranda and Josh Lowe. Springs finished the night with 5.1 innings of two-run baseball. He allowed four hits, walked three, and struck out four.
In the seventh inning, Danny Jansen launched his ninth homer of the season, a solo-shot, and tied the game at three runs apiece. The long ball allowed Baz to escape with a no-decision. Across seven innings, he allowed three runs, scattered seven hits, walked one, and struck out eleven.
With the game tied, Cleavinger and Fairbanks locked down the eighth and ninth innings and send this one to extras.
With Mason Miller’s 103 mph fastball looming in the listing pen, the A’s played for just one run in the top the tenth, and it worked. Facing Mason Montgomery, Denzel Clarke put down a sacrifice bunt, moving the ghost runner Colby Thomas to third with one out. Schuemann walked, setting up a potential inning ended double play, but Austin Wynns had other plans. Montgomery did get his double play, but it came on a successful sac-fly to left that eventually ended with a hectic play at the plate. Wynns was out of the fly out and Schuemann was gunned down at the plate by Chandler Simpson following a throwing error by Aranda. Nonetheless, the A’s had secured a 4-3 lead.
With Walls on second, Brandon Lowe struck out to start the inning. Caminero just missed a slider and was retired on a fly ball to left. With first open, the A’s opted to walk Aranda in favor of facing Josh Lowe. Following a balk, both runners advance and with two outs, Lowe had the tying run at third and the winning run just 180 feet away. However, Miller won the battle striking out Lowe to end the game.
The Rays had their chances throughout the night and were just unable to get the big hit in the sixth, eighth, ninth, or tenth innings leaving runners stranded in scoring position. Compared to their recent stretch, this was an uncharacteristic loss and felt like a return to the Rays baseball of April and May. Let’s hope that doesn’t turn into a trend and that they can snap the losing streak tomorrow.
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