Rays finding themselves on short end of stick with missed opportunities

TAMPA -- The Rays had their chances Tuesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

After Danny Jansen hit a game-tying homer in the seventh inning, the Rays left runners on first and second base in the eighth and ninth. They held the Athletics to just one run in the 10th and wound up with runners at second and third against flame-throwing closer Mason Miller, but couldn’t capitalize in a 4-3 loss to the A’s.

The Rays have dropped three straight games for the first time since being swept by the Phillies from May 6-8 at Steinbrenner Field, which was also their most recent series loss at home before this week. The Rays fell to third place in the American League East, sitting 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees and half a game behind the Blue Jays.

“They've made big pitches when they've had to. I think it goes back to, offensively, we’ve just kind of come up short,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “When there's guys on base, and we've created some traffic, they have really made the pitch.”

That was the case Monday night, when Junior Caminero hit into a key double play in the eighth inning before José Caballero did so in the ninth. And it was true again Tuesday night down the stretch of an otherwise evenly matched game.

In the eighth, Taylor Walls hit a leadoff single and stole second base. The A’s intentionally walked Caminero, setting up left-on-left matchups with Jonathan Aranda and Josh Lowe. Aranda flied out to center, and Lowe went down swinging.

In the ninth, Caballero negated his leadoff single off Michael Kelly by getting caught stealing second. But the Rays still had an opportunity to score, as Chandler Simpson singled and took second on a wild pitch. The A’s intentionally walked Yandy Díaz when first base opened up, and Kelly got Walls to ground out to escape the jam.

“We're getting opportunities. We're not capitalizing as we've done here lately,” Walls said. “Just try to scratch it up, come back tomorrow, try to put these past few games behind us and know that … we've been playing good baseball. It's just the past couple days we haven't come up with the key hits.”

The A’s scored just one run against Mason Montgomery in the 10th, as automatic runner Colby Thomas came home on a sacrifice bunt by Denzel Clarke and a sacrifice fly by Austin Wynns. The inning nearly descended into chaos, as Aranda threw the ball into center field when trying to get an out at second base, but Max Schuemann was cut down at the plate by Simpson and catcher Matt Thaiss when he tried to score.

“Sac fly, that guy's scoring no matter what,” Cash said. “And then it looked a little bit uncharacteristic of us, but happy that we were able to get the out.”

Facing Miller in the 10th, Brandon Lowe struck out swinging and Caminero flied out to deep left. The A’s once again made good use of an intentional walk, putting Aranda on first base, but Walls and Aranda moved into scoring position on a balk. Miller prevailed, though, striking out Josh Lowe on a slider in the zone.

“They made some big pitches, no doubt. I mean, Mason Miller is not a guy you want to see out there with guys on base and the game on the line,” Cash said. “That's about as tough of an at-bat as you're going to see from a relief pitcher. So, understand that they got us.”

The game’s first six runs all came on home runs: early solo shots by Christopher Morel and Brandon Lowe off former Rays starter Jeffrey Springs, then a pair of blasts by Max Muncy and Shea Langeliers against Shane Baz. Danny Jansen took Baz off the hook with a seventh-inning solo shot off Justin Sterner, another former Rays pitcher.

After throwing a career-high eight scoreless innings in Kansas City last Thursday, Baz was nearly as dominant against the A’s. The right-hander tied a career high with 11 strikeouts, walked just one batter and racked up a career-high 20 swinging strikes, including 14 on his fastball.

“His stuff is really peaking right now,” Cash said.

Baz continued to fill up the zone, throwing 62 of his 90 pitches for strikes, and he let his electric stuff do the rest. His final pitch of the night was his hardest of the night, but also largely indicative of everything that came before: a 99.1 mph fastball that Lawrence Butler whiffed on for the final out of the seventh.

“Felt like it got better as the game went on, as I kind of got loose,” Baz said. “Felt like I had some rhythm out there, for the most part.”