Rays 3, Orioles 8: Bummed in Baltimore

The Rays were unable to come away with a series win against the Baltimore Orioles, dropping the final game of this four game set 8-3. The loss dropped the Rays back to 20 games over .500.

In a microcosm of the day, things started on a positive note before turning south in a hurry. Eric Sogard laced the first pitch of the game from Dylan Bundy into the right field corner for a double. But he was erased at third on a nice play by Orioles catcher Pedro Severino when a Pham bunt attempt didn’t get far enough away from the plate.

The tough luck followed them to the mound. Sporting sexy florescent yellow cleats, Diego Castillo got the open and sat down the first two hitters quickly. But three soft singles followed, putting Baltimore up 1-0. Castillo then worked a clean second. Overall, he went two innings, giving up the one run on three hits, with two strikeouts. It was a solid outing for the big righty.

More tough luck followed for the bats. In the second, the Rays wasted a leadoff single by Choi. In the third, Eric Sogard knocked a single to center with two outs. But a sinking liner to right by Pham was snagged on a tumbling catch Stewart.

Beeks came in for bottom of the third, and I hope the Rays got this bulk work at a discount. Because there wasn’t much bad luck in this outing. Just nibbling, ineffective pitching.

The Orioles opened it up in the third. A one-out single by Alberto was followed by a caught stealing after a review. But Beek responded to his good fortune by walking Mancini and giving up a hard single to left to Santander. A double in the gap by Nunez put the O’s up 3-0, and a run scoring single by Stewart made it a 4-0 game.

The Rays finally got on the board in the fourth. Meadows started the inning with a lead off single to center. After a fielders choice, Garcia reached on a throwing error, putting men on the corners. KK then singled to center, scoring Choi.

Willy Adames then hit a foul ball homer before drawing a walk to load the bases. But the scoring chance came to an abrupt end when Joey Wendle grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.

Beeks sat down the first two in the bottom of the fourth. He then gave up a no-doubt bomb to Villar. 5-1.

A double in the gap by Reyes, an intentional walk to Mancini, and a lined single by Santander followed, putting Baltimore up 6-1.

Zunino walked to start the fifth. After a Sogard fielders choice, Tommy Pham doubled on a shot inside the third base bag, cutting the deficit to 6-2.

Meadows then lobbed one in front of Santander to put runners on the corners. Pham then scored on a long sac fly to right from Choi, making it a 6-3 game. A Garcia single again put runners on the corner, but a nice diving stop by Villar at second robbed Kiermaier and ended the rally.

In the bottom of the frame, Kevin Kiermaier just missed a highlight reel grab on a Stewart double. Stewart moved to third on a Severino fly out, and scored on a Wilkerson fly out. 7-3 game.

Miguel Castro took over for Bundy in the sixth and gave up a one out single to right by Wendle. Joey then broke for second but was doubled off on a Zunino pop out.

In the bottom of the seventh, Santander collected his fourth hit of the day by taking Beeks deep to left. 8-3. That closed the scoring for Baltimore. Beeks line for the day was better than it should have been, and it was pretty ugly: Five innings, 11 hits, seven runs, two walks, and six strikeouts.

Andrew Kittredge surrendered two singles in a scoreless eighth.

• Kevin Kiermaier left the game in fifth with a rib contusion.
• One place the Rays were lucky was on check swings. After three tough check swings went against Baltimore, pitching coach Doug Brocail was ejected in the fifth. Maybe the blinding white unis make it tough to call check swings?