ST. PETERSBURG -- With the Rays’ bullpen being a bit overused the last few games, Ryan Yarbrough provided Tampa Bay with six innings Thursday, but home runs by Shohei Ohtani and Albert Pujols hurt the left-hander in a 5-3 loss to the Angels at Tropicana Field.
Yarbrough ran into trouble in the first inning as Tommy La Stella doubled to start the game. The left-hander then hit Mike Trout on an 0-2 pitch before Ohtani, who hit for the cycle, connected on a three-run homer to give the Angels an early lead.
After that, however, Yarbrough settled down, keeping the Angels off the board until the fifth, when Pujols connected on a two-out, two-run home run to extend the Halos’ lead.
“Obviously, [Ohtani] had a really good day today, and he is obviously a good hitter and I just couldn’t seem to get him out,” Yarbrough said. “You just have to take your hat off to him. It’s kind of tough when you give up those two runs and we come back and get the three, I’m definitely a little bit upset about that.”
With Jose Alvarado still on the restricted list and the Rays currently in a stretch of 47 games in 48 days heading into the All-Star break, Yarbrough provided some length as he threw 90 pitches, 58 for strikes.
“Without a doubt,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said, when asked if it was encouraging to see Yarbrough get through six innings. “It was a little uncharacteristic in the first inning, I think five consecutive guys reached base, but he certainly did a nice job of settling down.”
The Rays’ offense was held quiet for most of the game, but the bats got going after a power outage halted play for 36 minutes. Tommy Pham hit a two-run single and Yandy Diaz had an RBI knock as Tampa Bay cut its deficit to 5-3 in the fifth. Tampa Bay has scored only eight runs during its current three-game losing streak and is 14-22 when scoring four or fewer runs this season.
The Rays also need to find a way to play better at Tropicana Field. After going 51-30 here in 2018, they are 18-17 at home this season, as opposed to a Majors-best 23-10 on the road.
Tampa Bay is 1-6 in its last seven games at The Trop and 11-15 in its last 26 games after beginning the season with seven wins in its first nine home games.
“We've got to do a better job at home,” Cash said. “Generally, you want to create an environment, where teams come in here, that this is a challenging place to find wins. We’ve had some strong series here and homestands, but they’ve been leveled off here a little bit lately. We’ve got to do a better job finding ways to win games at home.”