MINNEAPOLIS -- To say it’s been a rough stretch for the Rays bullpen lately would be an understatement. But the people in their clubhouse are taking the long view, even after the bullpen’s latest collapse.
Taj Bradley handed Kevin Kelly a 5-1 lead with two runners on and two out in the sixth inning on Saturday. Four pitches later, the game was tied, and the Rays went on to lose, 6-5.
“They’re going through it right now. You feel for them,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Every mistake is probably magnified with guys on base and getting barreled somewhere. Some of them are leaving the ballpark. But we need them, we depend on them, they’re good, and better than they’ve shown the past couple of games. Other than that, you just feel for them.”
The numbers spell out the details of the ugly stretch. In the past 10 games, Rays relievers are 0-5 with an 8.07 ERA, a 1.79 WHIP, 14 walks and eight home runs allowed in 32 1/3 innings.
This weekend’s series with the Twins has been a microcosm of the bullpen’s woes. On Friday, Edwin Uceta began the seventh inning with a 3-1 lead. Two singles and two strikeouts later, he gave up an RBI double to Byron Buxton.
Garrett Cleavinger came on and hit the next two batters, driving in the tying run. And though Kelly stranded the go-ahead runner on second base in the eighth inning, Harrison Bader hit the first pitch of the ninth into the stands for a walk-off homer.
On Saturday, Royce Lewis singled home a run on Kelly’s second pitch. Then after falling behind 0-1, Kody Clemens launched an opposite-field three-run homer to tie the game. In the ninth, Clevenger walked leadoff hitter Byron Buxton, who made it to third on Willi Castro’s single to right.
Brooks Lee then bunted the first pitch down the first-base line. It was a safety squeeze, but with Buxton running, Yandy Díaz knew he’d have no play at the plate. His best chance was to hope the bunt would roll foul. Instead, the ball hugged the baseline and hopped over the bag, giving Lee a walk-off squeeze bunt.
“It’s just a good baseball play by them,” Cleavinger said. “I kind of put us in a bad spot there. You can't put a guy like Byron on to start the inning. So, that was the biggest problem. Then Willi puts a good swing on a ball and then they played baseball the right way and got the job done.”
Cleavinger expressed confidence that he and his bullpen mates were experiencing a temporary blip, not a total collapse.
“I think it’s just baseball. You know, it kind of ebbs and flows and you kind of gotta take it in stride,” he said. “I know this group will bounce back and we'll be just fine.”
For what it’s worth, second baseman Brandon Lowe (more on him later) agreed, giving the bullpen his full-throated endorsement.
“If you cut out the last week or something like that, our bullpen's been fantastic. We’ll look back in two months and not talk about this stretch that they’re having,” Lowe said. “As much as hitters go through ups and downs, our pitchers are gonna do the same thing.”
Kim remains day to day
Shortstop Ha-Seong Kim missed the game with a cramp in his right calf. He injured it in the seventh inning of his 2025 debut on Friday. Kim reported some improvement when he arrived at the ballpark but wouldn’t go so far to say he was healed.
“It feels much better than yesterday, and we’re just keeping an eye on it now,” Kim said via interpreter David Lee. “I'm walking fine, so we'll just keep it day by day. … I think the muscle is just a little surprised.”
Going streaking
Lowe singled in the fifth inning to extend his current hitting streak to 20 games. That’s two games short of the longest this season, accomplished by Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. in April. But it does tie the Rays franchise record for the longest hitting streak, which was established by Díaz last season.
Ever the team player, Lowe wasn’t much in the mood to talk about individual accomplishments after a second straight walk-off loss.
“I'd much rather win,” he said. “If we were winning and this was going, fantastic, but winning is a whole heck of a lot better.”
Díaz did not reach base on Saturday, snapping his 27-game on-base streak.