Rays 1 Marlins 7: One where pitching and offense both failed

I’ve gotten used to assuming that a home game where Zach Eflin is pitching is going to be one where the opposing team struggles to score, but today was not his day. The Rays reported that he had a sore knee, so perhaps that was an explanation. He let the Marlins get off to a quick 2-0 lead.

The Rays offense looked like it was poised to respond. Josh Lowe hit a pop up that somehow dropped between three fielders for a double, and then moved to third on a wild pitch. Jose Siri broke his “HR or K” feast or famine approach to single in the run to cut the lead to 2-1

But that was it for Rays scoring, as the Marlins piled on runs. They broke open the game in the fourth — singles, doubles, bunts (Joey Wendle of course!) sac flies...all the small ball tricks to add to a lead, now 5-1. Eflin was out after 4 innings (the team later said he had a sore knee, which may explain his poor showing) and Colin Poche got into the action to give up a leadoff homer to make the score 6-1.

At that point I turned off the TV, because why make myself suffer? I could swear I heard some of the preschool camp kids saying “WTF Rays!” I do believe the Marlins scored another run at some point.