ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays took care of business last week, winning a four-game series in Toronto then sweeping the Guardians behind a dominant display of starting pitching and timely hitting. But this week won’t give them much of an opportunity to catch their breath.
For starters, the American League East-leading Rays are hosting the AL West-leading Rangers. Then the AL Central-leading White Sox come to Tropicana Field. There’s a lot on the line, especially with Monday’s Trade Deadline approaching.
“I think we're all playing for a lot right now, certainly on this homestand,” manager Kevin Cash said Tuesday afternoon.
With every game and every situation magnified, the fourth inning loomed large in a 4-1 loss to the Rangers on Tuesday night that reduced the Rays’ lead in the AL East to 1 1/2 games.
Rangers starter Cal Quantrill retired each of the first 10 batters he faced, cruising into the fourth without giving the Rays a chance to score. Then, suddenly, opportunity struck.
Jonathan Aranda singled, and Junior Caminero doubled. Up came Cedric Mullins, whose bat hit catcher Austin Wynns’ glove as he slapped a ball toward first base. Catcher’s interference was called, and Mullins trotted to first.
The Rays had the option to take the run that would have scored on the play along with the out that Mullins would have hit into. According to Rule 6.01(c): “If a play follows the interference, the manager of the offense may advise the plate umpire that he elects to decline the interference penalty and accept the play.”
Cash said they preferred to have Chandler Simpson batting with the bases loaded and one out, down 2-0, rather than having Simpson up with runners on second and third and two outs, down 2-1.
“I really felt good about the bases loaded, one out, down by two with Chandler at the plate,” Cash said.
The Rays should feel good whenever Simpson is up. He entered the night batting .405 this month and .382 in his last 30 games. And they had every reason to feel Simpson was the right man in that spot. He’s the player in the lineup most likely to put the ball in play, and his speed typically prevents double plays.
But Simpson hit a hard grounder back to the mound -- not hard enough to get by Quantrill, but just hard enough for him to start an inning-ending, 1-2-3 double play.
“I just hit it up the middle, and his glove stopped it,” Simpson said. “I hit it kind of hard, so they were able to turn a double play.”
Simpson was flying down the line, reaching an elite sprint speed of 30 feet per second according to Statcast, but Quantrill, catcher Austin Wynns and first baseman Jake Burger turned two in roughly four seconds. The Rays got on the board in the sixth, when Yandy Díaz walked and scored on just the second triple of Junior Caminero’s young career, but never had another opportunity like that.
“Quantrill, to his credit, made a nice play off the mound. He pitched a great ballgame for them and then made the biggest play, stabbing that,” Cash said. “ I don't know if that ball gets up the middle, but I know if it gets past the pitcher, it's really tough to turn two.”
Meanwhile, the Rays’ run of impressive starting pitching continued. Griffin Jax matched his career-high mark with 10 strikeouts as he racked up 19 swinging strikes over 5 2/3 innings.
“Stuff was really good tonight,” Jax said. “As long as I was staying on top of them and staying aggressive in the zone early and forcing them back in the zone, I think that's why my stuff was playing the way it was.”
Arguably the most costly throws the right-hander made came on fielding plays. In the second inning, he was a little late getting to Evan Carter’s slow chopper, tried to make up for it but rushed the throw to first.
After another single, Jax made an on-target pickoff throw to shortstop Taylor Walls, but the ball skipped into center field, putting Carter in position to score on a sacrifice fly. Another sac fly by Ezequiel Duran in the third gave Texas a 2-0 lead, and two runs were enough for the Rangers.
Both Jax and Walls took the blame for the errant pickoff throw.
“I’ve got to come up clean with that, especially with less than two outs,” Walls said. “He can't get to third in that situation. I thought [Jax] executed that well.”
Said Jax: “I need to get that throw a little bit higher. He’ll probably tell you that he needs to make that play. It’s just one of those that didn’t go our way.”