ST. PETERSBURG -- The Orioles couldn’t have gotten a better beginning to Tuesday’s game against the Rays. They just didn’t get anything else the rest of the night en route to a 4-1 loss at Tropicana Field.
After getting blown out in Monday’s series opener, Baltimore delivered the first blow just two pitches into Tuesday’s contest with a leadoff homer by Taylor Ward, his 11th career leadoff dinger and just his second home run as an Oriole.
However, Rays starter Griffin Jax and four relievers limited Baltimore to just three hits beyond that and held the Orioles hitless in five at-bats with runners in scoring position.
“You cash one of those in, it might be a different game,” manager Craig Albernaz said.
The Orioles set up those five RISP opportunities by being more aggressive with their legs; their three stolen bases tied a season high. But after Colton Cowser nabbed his first base of the season in the third inning, Ward and Gunnar Henderson struck out. Pete Alonso stole second base in the fourth inning only to see Samuel Basallo go down swinging and Leody Taveras ground out.
In the eighth, a nifty slide by pinch-runner Blaze Alexander put him in scoring position for Ward, who flew out to center to end the frame. As Albernaz said, a hit in any of those occasions during what was still a one-run game could have flipped the Orioles’ fortunes.
“This one sucks,” starter Kyle Bradish said.
Bradish grinded through a first inning in which he struck out Chandler Simpson and Junior Caminero on 10 pitches but then needed another 26 pitches to find that third out. Two walks -- including a crucial 10-pitch free pass to Jonathan Aranda -- were sandwiched around an RBI double to Yandy Díaz that erased Baltimore’s lead just four batters into the bottom of the first.
Putting up zeros over the next four innings, Bradish gave his club a chance to come up with that much-needed, game-changing hit. Instead, it was Tampa Bay that once again found the knocks it needed. Díaz delivered the loudest one: a tie-breaking solo home run off a hanging slider from Bradish in the sixth inning that traveled a projected 439 feet.
“They are not all trying to do damage, but when you leave a pitch in the middle of the plate, like I did to Yandy, they're on it,” Bradish said of the Rays’ lineup. “They are just kind of a complete team."
The Orioles had a chance to head to the ninth trailing by just a single run, but their defense wasn’t tight enough. With two outs, Richie Palacios drilled a pitch from Rico Garcia to deep right field. The ball hit off the glove of a leaping Cowser just in front of the wall, but he recovered and made a good relay throw to Jeremiah Jackson whose throw home to Basallo clearly beat pinch-runner Carson Williams to the plate. Alas, it short-hopped the O’s catcher, who couldn't glove the ball. Jonny DeLuca then followed with a bloop single that brought in Palacios to make it a 4-1 game.
Williams was the first inherited runner that Garcia has allowed to score this year while Palacios accounted for just the second earned run the right-hander has permitted in 20 1/3 innings.
“I think if Sammy completes the catch and tag -- which is tough on the short hop -- I think we would have had [Williams],” Albernaz said.
The Orioles generally played well enough to win on Tuesday, but it was the Rays who made the pitch to escape a jam, came through with runners on base and didn’t have an incomplete relay turn what could have been an inning-ending out into a run.
It’s those kinds of plays that show why Tampa Bay has won 20 of their past 24 games and hold the American League’s best record at 32-15.
The Orioles, meanwhile, head into Wednesday’s series finale and the final game of their six-game road trip at 21-28 and a season-worst seven games under .500.