Rays' offensive engine remains stuck in low gear despite late rally

MIAMI -- The Rays didn’t get a runner on base until the fifth inning Saturday afternoon. They didn’t record their first hit until the sixth. They didn’t score until the eighth. They still had a chance to come back and beat the Marlins in the ninth.

Trailing by three as their former closer, Pete Fairbanks, trotted in from the Marlins’ bullpen, the Rays worked three walks and picked up a pair of hits to score two runs. They had the tying run at third in Chandler Simpson and loaded the bases with two outs, bringing Junior Caminero to the plate against reliever Tyler Zuber.

Two weeks ago, it would have felt like the kind of game the Rays were destined to win. Their lineup always seemed to find a way, no matter the deficit or the situation. The middle-of-the-order bats are coming up with Simpson in scoring position? Go ahead and start the celebration.

But the past two weeks have told a different story.

Caminero took two pitches at the top of the zone, or perhaps above it, and struck out three pitches later. The Rays came up just short in a 4-3 defeat to the Marlins at loanDepot park, the club’s ninth loss in its past 12 games.

“I was trying to put it in play,” Caminero said through interpreter Kevin Vera. “I was trying to be the hero, and it didn't work out.”

Of course, the ninth inning wasn’t the Rays’ only missed opportunity to break through in the later innings. They finished 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position, left nine runners on base and fell to 6-17 when scoring three runs or fewer this season.

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One of their problems lately? They’ve scored three runs or fewer seven times during this 12-game skid that has dropped their American League-leading record to 37-24.

“The bats were hot at the beginning of the year, and now they're not necessarily as hot,” designated hitter Yandy Díaz said through Vera. “But that doesn't mean we're not going to be a good offensive team. So right now, we've just got to keep at it, just keep having a good mindset and moving forward.”

It’s not like the Rays have to look back to early May to remember what they can do. Everyone played a part in Friday night’s series-opening win, including their big three: Caminero, Díaz and Jonathan Aranda.

But what happened one night doesn’t guarantee anything the next day. And Aranda and Caminero were in the middle of some of Saturday’s most frustrating moments.

In the sixth, the Rays had two runners on with one out when Aranda struck out swinging against Calvin Faucher and Caminero grounded out to first base.

It was a similar story in the eighth. Díaz got the Rays on the board with an RBI double, making it a 4-1 game with runners on second and third and nobody out. But Aranda and Caminero struck out against right-hander Michael Petersen, and Richie Palacios grounded out to end the threat.

“We had some good at-bats last night, and then today we had the middle of the lineup come up and their pitchers did a good job of making some big pitches,” manager Kevin Cash said.

The Rays didn’t stop fighting, though. Ben Williamson drew a leadoff walk against Fairbanks, and Taylor Walls reached on a one-out bunt single. Williamson later scored on a wild pitch before Simpson walked and Díaz singled in Walls.

Aranda walked to load the bases, and the Marlins pulled Fairbanks after 39 pitches. But Caminero, who reached base five times Friday night, went down swinging to cap an 0-for-5 day with three strikeouts.

“Just had a bunch of good at-bats and didn't do their pitcher any favors by expanding out of the zone,” Cash said. “We just came up a little bit short right there at the end.”

The Rays were playing from behind after the Marlins put up four runs against starter Shane McClanahan, who cruised through four scoreless innings before running into trouble.

Javier Sanoja led off the fifth by pulling a first-pitch slider out to left, only the third homer McClanahan has allowed in 12 starts this season. The Marlins scored another on a double off the left-field wall by Joe Mack, then forced McClanahan out of the game before he could record an out in the sixth by knocking three straight singles to right and center.

Reliever Casey Legumina mitigated the damage by allowing only a sacrifice fly in a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation, but the four-run hole proved to be a little too deep for the Rays’ lineup.

“You get singled to death, and it just happens sometimes,” McClanahan said. “I was really proud of the way I competed. I'm proud of this team for battling and trying to come back like that.”