ST. PETERSBURG -- From a physical standpoint, Shane McClanahan had just about everything going against the Royals on Tuesday night at Tropicana Field.
McClanahan’s fastball velocity was as good as it’s been all season, and he threw an even mix of his secondary stuff at Kansas City’s lineup. He pounded the zone with a ton of strikes. He only walked one of the 25 batters he faced.
But from a performance standpoint, it was a forgettable outing for McClanahan and another disappointing night for the Rays. The left-hander gave up a season-high six runs and a career-high-tying three homers in Tampa Bay’s lopsided 12-5 defeat.
It was the Rays’ eighth loss in their last 11 games, and they are now 9-18 over the past month.
“Baseball is very frustrating and challenging. But I feel good. I feel confident. I really do,” McClanahan said. “I know how weird that is to say, based on the results that I've gotten, but it's going to even out. I truly believe that.”
For whatever reason, the quality of McClanahan’s stuff and the quality of his results are trending in opposite directions.
McClanahan’s fastball averaged 96.1 mph against the Royals, the same as it has all month. That’s up a full mile per hour from April and a half-tick higher than last month, and it’s not far off from where he sat during his All-Star campaigns in 2022 and ‘23. McClanahan thought the action on his arsenal at Dodger Stadium in his previous start on Wednesday was the “best all year, probably years.”
Combine that with how well McClanahan pitched in May, when he went 4-0 with a 1.41 ERA over six starts, and you’d think he was well on his way to another All-Star nod. But the numbers haven’t matched up with the way he’s felt this month.
The Rays have lost all four of McClanahan’s starts in June, and he has produced a 5.78 ERA in those outings. He’s still picking up his share of strikeouts, but he’s given up 25 hits and nine walks in 18 2/3 innings this month.
At this point, all McClanahan can do is stick to his process and maintain his belief that things will turn around.
“Earlier in the year, I feel like I was getting better results than what I should have gotten at times, with the way I felt, the stuff I had. I could say this is the opposite,” McClanahan said. “I feel like I haven't had better stuff all year, and unfortunately, it's just not rolling my way.
“But we play 162 of these. You're going to have a few, and hopefully I'm just getting these out of the way early.”
After Tuesday’s defeat, his first home loss of the season, McClanahan gave credit to the Royals’ aggressive lineup. They signaled their intent with a bunch of early swings, two of which produced the first back-to-back homers off McClanahan in his Major League career.
In the first inning, Nick Loftin launched a down-and-in curveball into the left-field seats for a solo homer. Two pitches later, Jac Caglianone demolished an 0-1 slider -- the only pitch McClanahan said he really wanted back on the night -- a Statcast-projected 443 feet to right field.
“They had a very aggressive approach and capitalized and hit some balls hard,” manager Kevin Cash said. “Got out to an early lead, and then it just kind of carried from there. Obviously, not our best day on the mound.”
Meanwhile, the Rays put eight runners on base against Royals starter Luinder Avila, but they scored just once in his five innings.
“We put the pitches on their starter and just weren't able to come through,” Cash said. “The story of a lot of our losses is not getting a big hit early on when we've got some traffic on base.”
McClanahan bounced back well, getting 11 outs from the next 12 batters he faced, but he ran into more trouble in the fifth. After a leadoff double, Tyler Tolbert dropped a bunt that McClanahan fielded cleanly before hesitating and sailing the throw past first baseman Jonathan Aranda. One run scored, and Tolbert sped around to third, allowing him to score on a two-out single by Loftin.
Caglianone then made McClanahan pay for the extended inning, as the Tampa native crushed a first-pitch fastball out to center for his second homer of the game to put the Royals up, 6-1. McClanahan finished the fifth and got through the sixth, but the damage had been done.
“I wish I had that throw [to Aranda] back. I feel like I make that play nine out of 10 times,” McClanahan said. “Obviously it's easier for me to say that than do it based on what happened tonight.”