I half considered just doing a straight ctrl-c ctrl-v of a previous recap of mine for this game. There really wouldn’t be much different. Rays had plenty of chances, 10 LOB, lack of power, key bats whiff in the clutch. Blah, blah, blah.
We have done this song and dance off and on for months. With only a few games remaining, and none of them of any value, there’s no real point of re-chiseling the wheel. This just wasn’t their year. It wasn’t so much bad luck as it was just no luck at all.
Baseball teams need luck. The teams that have great seasons, no matter how talented, need luck. The Rays, on back to back nights, had the opportunity to win a game with one of their All Star hitters at the plate. Whiffs and Ks were all that waited. Maybe one Jeff Hoffman fastball high in the zone ends up slightly lower and Josh Lowe finally gets a bat on the ball instead of under it?
But not tonight. Not in GMS. Not in 2025.
This was the 49th 1 run game for the Rays on the season. They are now 21-28. That’s a LOT of 1 run games, where not a lot needs to change to change the course of a full season.
We saw the bullpen implosions and blown leads after the 7th (most in MLB), but tonight that was not the case. Kelly and Gerber both gave up solo HRs that ended up being the difference in the game, but one can hardly blame them. The bullpen overall covered 7.1 IP with 0 BB and 6 Ks after Ryan Pepiot got shellacked in just 1.2 IP. When your starter can’t get out of the 2nd, gives up 4 runs but is lucky for it to be just that, you aren’t going to win many games. As Cash recently said, the best thing anybody can say about the Rays time in the Stein is that I can’t wait to be back in the Trop.
The Rays did almost undo the damage Pepiot did with a quirky 3-run bomb from BLowe.
Unfortunately, the next several innings would prove the image of frustration. 4th inning: Get a base hit? Get nobody over or in. 5th inning: alternate three strikeouts with two singles. 6th inning: Single and a Double? Quickly K and groundout to end that threat.
Then the 8th inning some life! Josh Lowe finally doesn’t swing and immediately has the most positive impact he’s had this homestand with a walk. Tristan Gray would then drive him in with an RBI single bringing the Rays to within 2. Christopher Morel would then draw a walk to bring Nick Fortes to the plate with runners at 1st and 2nd. Ah but then what a perfect opportunity to do a bad thing in a different way than the previous several innings: a ground ball double play to end the inning!
9th inning, Chandler Simpson leads off with a walk, bringing up Yandy Diaz-Brandon Lowe-Junior Caminero trio with the game on the line and a swing away from tying it. Anybody else feeling deja vu to 24 hours ago?
Well if you weren’t before the Yandy Diaz whiff down the pipe will do it! But wait! After Chandler swiped 2nd (and took third on the errant throw), the dawg would poke a looping single to drive him in. The Rays got a hit with RISP?! Perhaps some luck is here? Junior Caminero up with a chance to get the walkoff HR to give Rays fans some glimmer of joy in September before winter arrives.
Caminero got at least two pitches to do it. A wildly floated slider from Hoffman got Caminero swinging out of his shoes and his bat. Hoffman was wise to avoid the zone, and Caminero kept his plate discipline drawing the walk.
Unfortunately the bats behind Caminero were bats from the OF. Not what you want to see for the 2025 Rays.
Josh Lowe would make one bit of exciting contact but pulled it well foul. The last bit of contact was just enough of a tip but into the catcher glove to go down swinging. Jake Mangum would not make nearly as much contact, whiffing badly on three pitches well above the zone.
Threat and game over. 6-5, another 1 run loss with the winning run on base, the chance for glory at the plate, but all out of reach in the end.
The good news is this season is almost over, and 1-run W/L records are extremely volatile year to year.
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