After first-inning struggles, Houser settles into second Rays start

SEATTLE -- Before he’d gotten a single out, Adrian Houser was already down by four runs.

The right-hander was making his second start after being traded to Tampa Bay. His debut had been the worst outing of his season, and Sunday against the Mariners started even worse.

Houser allowed the first five batters to reach base, including a two-run homer by Cal Raleigh. Four runs scored before Houser struck out Jorge Polanco, Seattle’s No. 6 hitter, for the first out.

That early deficit proved too much for the Rays as they fell 6-3 to the Mariners at T-Mobile Park, but Houser regrouped and showed the form that led Tampa Bay to trade for him from the White Sox at the Deadline.

“You could tell he didn’t have a feel for any of his pitches. No command, just wasn’t very crisp,” manager Kevin Cash said. “But give him a ton of credit to be able to take a deep breath. The offense kind of fought back and he dialed it in and gave us a chance.”

Houser gave up another hit and a pair of walks after the Polanco strikeout to load the bases before getting out of the first inning. All told, the right-hander faced 10 batters and threw 45 pitches in the opening frame, the most pitches by any Rays pitcher in a first inning since Jake Odorizzi threw 48 on June 6, 2017. It was also the fourth most for any pitcher in a first inning this season.

Despite looking like he might endure a short outing, Houser ended up going five, giving up just two singles and hitting two batters in the final four frames. He threw just seven pitches in the second and nine in the third inning, and finished with 94 pitches thrown.

“I was feeling confident, feeling I could work myself out of that,” he said. “I’ve been able to work out of a few jams this year, so I felt like with my stuff and the way I’ve been throwing the ball I’d be able to work out of that. Unfortunately I just wasn’t able to work out of it quick enough.”

Houser’s first start for the Rays came on Aug. 4 against the Angels. He gave up season highs of five runs and 11 hits over 5 2/3 innings, citing mechanical issues as a reason for his struggles. He again felt his mechanics were off early against Seattle, but was able to adjust.

Even more important than the physical adjustments was staying focused mentally, especially once those four early runs scored.

“You’ve got to be locked in at that point,” Houser said. “At that point it’s, ‘limit the damage, and try to go as long as possible.’ You’ve just got to try to hold your own right now, try to keep the score where it’s at and let the boys swing the bat.”

Tampa Bay’s offense did scratch back, led by Ha-Seong Kim. Kim had an RBI double in the second and homered in the fourth inning, the first time he’s had multiple extra-base hits in any game this season.

The homer cut Seattle’s lead to one run, but the Rays' offense was mostly punchless the rest of the way, as the bullpen gave up another pair of runs late.

The loss left the Rays on the wrong side of a series sweep and four games below .500, matching their season worst. Tampa Bay has lost nine of 12 and is facing two more road series against the Athletics and Giants before returning home.

“Not happy. I think that’s the best way to put it. We’re not happy with the way that we played,” Cash said. “We’re just not playing good baseball.”

With the team trending in the wrong direction and on a day where nothing went right early, Houser was still able to take a positive outlook from his performance.

“Take those last four innings and bottle those up,” Houser said. “Just kind of stack that on top of each other and keep going.”