ST. PETERSBURG -- Guardians left-hander Parker Messick deserved a better fate Sunday afternoon. He was competitive. He was precise. He was efficient.
“He was unbelievable,’’ Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.
But Messick had nothing to show for it. In a battle of All-Stars, the Rays and right-hander Drew Rasmussen came out ahead, 1-0, at Tropicana Field, scratching across a fifth-inning run and making it stand to complete a three-game sweep of the Guardians, whose losing streak hit five games.
Steven Kwan drilled a first-inning double on Rasmussen’s third pitch, but that was it. In all, Cleveland had just four baserunners. That included a two-out walk to Chase DeLauter in the ninth that put the tying run on base, but closer Bryan Baker struck out Brayan Rocchio to end it. The Guardians were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position (and 1-for-14 RISP during a series in which they scored just three runs).
Messick (8-6) made his first appearance at the Trop, about an hour from his native home of Plant City, where he grew up rooting for Rays such as Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena and David Price. He delivered for the throngs of family and friends, going 7 2/3 innings with six hits allowed, no walks and six strikeouts.
“The Rays really didn’t get anything going outside of manufacturing a run,’’ Vogt said. “You tip your cap to them. That’s what you have to do against pitchers like [Messick]. He was so outstanding today. That was as impressive as we’ve seen Parker all year.’’
“We hung in that game because of Parker,’’ Kwan said. “He was awesome. He has been giving us a chance to win all season long.’’
In the fifth, Chandler Simpson slapped a single to left, went to second on Messick’s wild pitch, then advanced to third on a grounder. From there, he scored on what was actually a poorly executed bunt attempt. Cedric Mullins popped it up, but charging first baseman Kyle Manzardo couldn’t scoop it cleanly off the bounce and Simpson slid home.
Overall, Messick had four 1-2-3 innings. The Rays were impressed.
“[He threw] a lot of fastballs [and was] really committed to the strike zone,’’ Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “If you like pitching, that's about as well executed as a game as you're going to see. Both guys just attacked the strike zone really well. Messick has confidence with all of his pitches, but really powered some fastballs. He's got a pretty deceptive delivery as well."
Meanwhile, the Guardians couldn’t get anything going against Rasmussen (9-5), who retired 21 of 23 batters after Kwan’s leadoff double. Rasmussen allowed just one hit over seven innings, walking one and striking out nine.
For Messick, it was another gem against the Rays. He’s now 2-0 with a 1.03 ERA in four career starts against Tampa Bay. It was the first time that Messick worked seven innings while allowing one or zero runs. He’s the first Cleveland pitcher to do that in a losing effort since Trevor Bauer in 2018.
“It’s one of those games where you can’t be too hard on yourself about,’’ Messick said. “We’re struggling [offensively], and we’ve just got to find different ways to win. I gave the team a chance to win, and that’s all I can do every time I go out there. We’ll turn it around.’’
The Guardians, who had 13 total hits in the three-game series, are 3-7 since the All-Star break. They have scored 12 runs in those seven defeats.
“We need to keep working,’’ Vogt said. “We want to continue to get better, but we faced three very good arms here [Rasmussen, Nick Martinez and Shane McClanahan]. There’s no denying the Rays have some really good arms, and we saw three of their best. There’s a lot of season left. We’ve shown at times that we can be a really good offense. We just need to find some consistency.’’
“Yeah, that’s what happens sometimes over 162 [games],’’ Kwan said. “We’re not going good right now. If we sit on it, that’s going to be bad news for us. So we just keep going. That’s the only option we have.’’