Rays 1, Orioles 2: I Miss Paul Fry

On Father’s Day, the Rays gave dads across Tampa Bay the baseball equivalent of an ugly tie. Their 2-1 loss to Baltimore, on a day when they had traffic on the bases all day, was demoralizing. The also wasted another strong start from Corey Kluber as well as some nice bullpen work. The Rays put runners on in five of the first six innings, and seven out of nine, but were undone by the lack of a clutch hit, and some great Baltimore defense. Where’s Paul Fry when you need him?

Going against Kluber was Austin Voth, who got the start after a late scratch by Jordan Lyles.

The Orioles broke out on top in the first when, with two outs, Santander hammered a cutter that didn’t cut onto Eutaw Street.

The Rays threatened with two outs in the top of the second. Phillips squirted a single into right, followed by a Bruján double toward the right field corner. Phillips was waved in, but was cut down at the plate on a strong relay from McKenna and Odor, and a better tag by Rutschman.

After walking Margot, Voth was done with two outs in the third. Bryan Baker (rocking exceptional sock game) came on for the O’s, and struggled with command. He walked Díaz and Choi to load the bases for Randy Arozarena. But Randy was unable to convert the chance, striking out on high heat.

Baltimore pushed their lead to two in the bottom on the third. After McKenna’s one out infield single defected off Corey Kluber, Mullins hit one to the wall in left center for a double. With McKenna running on the pitch, he scored easily. 2-0 Orioles.

The Rays finally got on the board in the fourth. Mejía led off with a single the other way. A couple groundouts moved Mejía up to third, where he was chased home on a Taylor Walls triple into the right-centerfield gap.

2-1 Orioles, which would be your final score.

With two outs in the sixth, the Rays put runners on the corners after Phillips lined a single over Odor’s head and Bruján lobbed a single to center. But Walls was put out on a sensational play by Odor.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Santander reached on a botched pop up by Choi, because botched pop ups are kind of our thing now. Kluber pitched around it, but still. Catch the damn ball, fellas.

Kluber was done after six innings: two runs, four hits, six strikeouts, and a walk. He gave way to Luke Bard, who worked two scoreless innings.

The Rays head back home to play the Yankees for a three game set that starts tomorrow evening. Wander can’t get back here soon enough.