TAMPA -- Rays manager Kevin Cash, assessing his team at the season’s 40-game mark, made a simple declarative statement that also sounded like a cry for help.
“We’ve got to find a way to score more runs.’’
It has become a broken record in this one step forward, two steps back kind of season. The Rays couldn’t take advantage of limited opportunities and were defeated 4-2 by the Brewers on Sunday at Steinbrenner Field.
The Rays were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position (and 3-for-24 overall in the three-game series, which included two one-run victories).
Tampa Bay wasted a respectable start by right-hander Drew Rasmussen (1-4), who allowed three runs over five innings. But for the second straight outing -- and only the fourth time across 58 Major League starts -- Rasmussen allowed multiple home runs.
It was back-to-back fourth-inning solo shots from Christian Yelich and William Contreras, and they were enough to sway the game away from Rasmussen, who retired 10 of his first 11 batters. Rasmussen absorbed the blame, because he also surrendered the fifth-inning go-ahead run on an RBI groundout, but the Brewers’ rally began with a walk to Jake Bauers.
“They were two pitches that stayed middle instead of getting to the locations that we intended, and they did damage to those mistakes,’’ Rasmussen said of surrendering back-to-back homers. “My job is not to worry about [lack of] run production. My job is to go out there to execute pitch-to-pitch and keep the opponent off the board. It really was just a handful of pitches today, but the handful of pitches makes a huge difference over the course of a game.’’
Trailing 3-2 in the fifth, the Rays mounted a threat. Chandler Simpson laced his second double of the game, then Brandon Lowe walked on four pitches. With one out, left-hander Tyler Alexander was summoned. He got Jonathan Aranda on a soft liner, then retired pinch-hitter Junior Caminero on a high, deep drive that was flagged by Bauers at the left-field wall.
“I thought off the bat [it was a three-run homer] … and I thought that all the way until Bauers kind of made a right turn going to the corner, and the ball kind of hung up there a little,’’ Cash said.
“I mean, [Caminero] got a good pitch, put a good swing on it, but it just didn't happen that time,’’ Simpson said. “Obviously, everybody wants to get the runners over and get runners in. That’s the name of the game, and that’s how you score runs. That’s how you play baseball. Guys want to do that, but it’s a hard job to be calm in those situations, breathe and just being able to think small and execute.’’
Simpson (2-for-4 with two doubles) and Aranda (3-for-4, two-out RBI single in the first inning) had notable offensive performances. But overall, the spotlight focused on the Rays’ inability to score.
The fourth inning was particularly frustrating. The Rays got an equalizer on José Caballero’s sacrifice fly, but they couldn’t tack on, even with runners at second and third. Taylor Walls struck out, then Danny Jansen lifted a harmless fly ball to left field.
In the seventh and eighth innings, with the tying runs either on base or at the plate, the Rays hit into two double plays.
“We’re just not putting enough pressure on [opposing] pitchers,’’ Cash said. “We get the guy on base, but it seems like it’s softer contact. The approach might not have been as tightened up as it needs to be, and good pitchers are taking advantage of that.’’