Mariners 7, Rays 1: An Estebaniversary loss

If listless offense and fat pitches from your starter and pen are your thing, then this game — this series, really — has been a dream for you. For the rest of us, it’s been kind of brutal.

The Rays gave up runs early, as Erasmo Ramirez surrendered a two run homer to Nelson Cruz in the first, and a bases loaded, two-strike, two-run single in the third that Mike Zunino rolled through the vacant right side against the shift.

They gave up runs in the middle, when Austin Pruitt was tagged for three in the sixth, including one on a “wild pitch” that Jesus Sucre gave a pretty poor effort at blocking.

On the bright side, they did not give up runs late, as Jose Alvarado and Danny Farquhar were solid. So, small victories.

As for the offense, it was again sparse. A walk to Weeks in the second was it for a while. Kevin Kiermaier finally broke up the no-hitter in the fifth with an infield single when he beat Mariner’s starter Ariel Miranda to the bag. The first “clean” hit didn’t come until the seventh, when Tim Beckham blooped one into right.

The Rays finally got on the board in the eighth, thanks to some high sun on a Daniel Robertson fly to Jarrod Dyson in center. Dyson lost the ball, which ended up hitting him in the shoulder, and Robertson had himself a “triple.” He eventually scored on a Sucre ground out.

All in all, it was a really solid game for Miranda, who went the distance, giving up just the one run on four hits and a walk, with nine strikeouts. But honestly, it didn’t feel like he was that dominant. The Rays just didn’t hit well.

NOTES:

• Not everything was awful. Tim Beckham did this:

• Steven Souza Jr. hit a foul ball homer that I’m still not sure how it went foul. It was a mile high, but looked to be well fair off the bat. I’m surprised it didn’t burn up on reentry.
• I’ll tell you one guy the Rays could have used today: Esteban Yan. On this day in 2000, Yan went yard in his first MLB at bat. Happy Estebaniverary everybody!

• The Rays get an off day tomorrow before we get back at it Tuesday at the Trop against the White Sox. Game time is at 7:10 PM.