MLB-best Rays face stiff competition in rival Orioles

BALTIMORE -- The last two years, you could almost see the state of the Orioles’ rebuild reflected in their record against the Rays.

In 2021, Tampa Bay won 18 of 19 matchups against Baltimore and outscored the 110-loss Orioles, 150-71. Last year, as the O’s took a big step forward and finished above .500 for the first time since 2016, the Rays claimed only a 10-9 edge in their season series.

As historically successful as the Rays have been to start the season, the past two nights have shown that the Orioles won’t make it easy on them in the competitive American League East. After Shane McClanahan helped Tampa Bay shut out Baltimore in Monday’s series opener, the Orioles struck back Tuesday night and handed the Rays a 4-2 loss at Camden Yards.

It was only the second loss in eight games this month for the Rays (29-8) and just their second in the 25 games in which they’ve scored first this season. The Orioles improved to 23-13 on the year, the Majors’ third-best record and the second-best mark in the American League behind Tampa Bay.

“They’re very good,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “They've got some big arms in the back end of their bullpen. They're very athletic. And we're seeing that in the first two games we've played them.”

Before the second game of the series, Orioles general manager Mike Elias acknowledged these three days would serve as something of a “measuring stick” for Baltimore. Then his team showed off several of its strengths: young talent headlined by catcher Adley Rutschman, who homered and guided top prospect Grayson Rodriguez through a strong start, plus a shutdown bullpen led by Yennier Cano (1 2/3 innings, 0.17 WHIP) and Félix Bautista (1 1/3 innings, eighth save).

“[The Rays] have played like the best team in baseball right now,” Elias said, “so I definitely think our team is looking at this with a specific mindset.”

For Tampa Bay, Tuesday’s game essentially came down to one shaky inning by starter Zach Eflin and a bunch of missed opportunities at the plate.

The Rays continued their early season home-run binge. Wander Franco smashed his seventh homer in the first inning and Taylor Walls went deep for the sixth time in the fifth as Tampa Bay tallied its 22nd multihomer game. The Rays have hit 75 home runs, the second most in the modern era through a team’s first 37 games of the season.

But they finished 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.

“We had runners on every inning, and we had opportunities,” Walls said. “That hit just wasn't there when we needed it.”

The Rays stranded runners on the corners in the fourth and fifth innings, left two men in scoring position in the sixth and then left runners on the corners again in the eighth when Bautista caught Walls looking at a splitter down and in. They also grounded into four double plays, their most in one game since April 6, 2017. Three of those double-play grounders were hit by leadoff man Yandy Díaz, including one in the ninth with two runners on against Bautista.

“Their pitchers made pitches,” Cash said. “It seemed like the double play played in their favor quite a bit, even there right at the end.”

After cruising through his first two innings, Eflin felt like he lost the nasty cutter that played a big part in his seven-inning, 10-strikeout gem against the Pirates last Thursday. The Orioles got to him in the third and fourth innings, but Eflin was efficient and effective enough to complete six innings on 80 pitches (51 strikes).

“Baltimore made a couple adjustments, but I really thought Zach threw the ball really well,” Cash said. “This is a good hitting team. They showed that. And Zach's a really good pitcher that knows how to navigate through a little bit of traffic.”

Gunnar Henderson led off the third by smashing a cutter to right-center field past a diving Manuel Margot before scoring on a Jorge Mateo groundout. Cedric Mullins hit a curveball to left for a two-out double, then Rutschman blasted a 1-1 cutter from Eflin onto Eutaw Street. The Orioles tacked on another run in the fourth on two singles and a walk, and the Rays lost for the first time in Eflin’s six starts.

“They made some good swings on some bad pitches, which is what big leaguers do,” Eflin said. “At the end of the day, flush it down the toilet, move on."