Rays: 4, Mariners: 5- Late Offense Not Enough

It was an exciting and/or tumultuous lead up to tonight’s game against Seattle. Diego Castillo made his debut in Washington and highly touted 1B prospect Jake Bauers was making his debut and taking the place of Brad Miller.

The game started with the same tone as most of the other games in the past week, with Opener Ryne Stanek needing 30 pitches to get through the 1st inning, and Austin Pruitt opening up the 2nd with a walk to ex-Ray Denard Span. Span would move from 1st to 3rd on a David Freitas single, and score for the Ms after a Dee Gordon Sac fly. The 2nd didn’t get any easier for the Rays as a ball deflected of of DRS leader Joey Wendle, allows 1 run to score, and then a 2nd run after a soft toss by Carlos Gomez.

Rays down 3-0 after just two innings, and quickly down 4-0 after a Denard Span HR in the 3rd.

A solo blast in the 3rd by Daniel Robertson would put the Rays within 3, but it would be short lived as Mitch Haniger would hit a Solo shot to put the Mariners up by 4 again and make it 5-1 Rays.

Jake Bauers’ Debut

At first glance, Jake Bauers line of 0-4 looks like a typical Rays start, however he only struck out once, and hit absolute screamers off the bat...

...right to Seattle’s defenders.

Bauers’ defense did live up to the hype as he had a couple of very nice plays, including this one in foul territory:

Rays Rally in 9th

Rays would allow starter Mike Leake to go 8.1 IP, who would be lifted for familiar face Alex Colome after a Wilson Ramos double. Colome would serve Bauers his first K of the night, and then put Carlos Gomez on with a HBP, and load the bases after a Mallex Smith single.

Johnny Field would then clear the bases with a 2 out double and get the Rays within one, and the Rays had some hope! Daniel Robertson comes up and hits a hard grounder down the third field line!

Seager and his amazing defense comes up and fires to nab Robertson and seal yet ANOTHER 1 run win for the Seattle Mariners.

Rays will look to end the 7 game slide as they face Marco Gonzalez, with Wilmer Font opening for the Rays. Game time is at 7:10 PM.