ST. PETERSBURG — Saturday afternoon began with a celebration of nostalgia, as the franchise’s all-time great, Evan Longoria, returned to Tropicana Field for the first time in nearly seven years to sign autographs and throw the ceremonial first pitch.
What happened on the field afterwards was a familiar story, if in a far more frustrating way.
The Rays failed to get a hit in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position, missing opportunities and losing 2-4 to the Guardians. Tampa Bay is 1-for-27 with runners in scoring position over the past two days and 8-for-72 in the eight games since July 5.
“It’s a trend, and we’ve got to do something to break that trend,” manager Kevin Cash said. “You can feel it in the dugout. You can feel it all game long. We have the ability to hit big times, and right now we just don’t have them. Hopefully we can reset a little bit before the break tomorrow.”
If the Rays win the final game on Sunday and secure their seventh victory in the last eight series, they’ll enter the All-Star break with a .500 chance of winning, but it will be the first time since 2016 that they won’t enter the break with a winning record. The Rays have held a winning record at the break in 13 of the 16 seasons since 2008, every year except 2014, 2016 and this season.
The bigger concern for Tampa Bay is getting their offense back on track. The Rays have been held to three runs or fewer in six of their past eight games, during which they have allowed a major league-worst batting average of .111 with runners in scoring position, averaging just 2.5 runs.
“We’ve got to end that trend lately,” Josh Lowe said. “We just have to find a way to get some hits, and maybe that will break the dam and create some opportunities for us and maybe they’ll get ahead.”
Hitting has been an issue for the Rays all season, hitting just .225 with a .668 OPS through 95 games, but it has gotten more serious recently, with them going 0-for-10 with zero or fewer hits in scoring position in three of their last eight games: against Texas on July 5, against the Yankees on Wednesday and against the Tigers on Saturday.
They had plenty of chances to break through on Saturday. In the third inning, Yandy Diaz hit a double to left field off Cleveland starter Gavin Williams, bringing Richie Palacios to first base, then Brandon Lowe struck out and Isaac Paredes popped out.
Lowe led off the fourth inning with a walk and a stolen base before the three Rays were out in order, and Paredes reached base with a double in the sixth but didn’t advance further as reliever Cade Smith struck out Lowe and Randy Arozarena struck him out swinging.
“We’ve got to figure out how to simplify our approach at the plate, myself included,” Rowe said. “Just not try too hard, get a hit, watch the ball drop and throw it.”
With a runner on second and two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Arozarena hit a fielder’s choice grounder. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Jose Caballero advanced to second base, but Johnny DeLuca got closer Emmanuel Klass out on a grounder. Caballero was called out twice on base, was stopped for a stolen base for the final out of the bottom of the second, and was stopped for the first out of the bottom of the seventh.
“They’re making us pitch tough, but we have the ability to find ways to get the big hits,” Cash said. “Right now we’re not getting the hits.”
After Taj Bradley pitched well on Friday night, starter Zach Littell bounced back nicely from a rare misstep Sunday at Texas with his team-leading seventh quality start. The right-hander allowed just two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks in six innings.
“Overall, I’m pretty happy with it,” Littell said. “The position was good. I thought the contact was weak. It was definitely a good shot to get into the break.”
But after going just 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position in the previous two games, the Guardians finally got their big hit in the eighth inning when, after Tyler Freeman pinch-hit singled, pinch-hitter Johnkensy Noel smashed Garrett Cleavinger’s 0-1 slider into left field for the game-winning home run.
“The matchup was good. Cleave has done a great job for us basically all season,” Cash said. “I got ahead of him, but Noel made that good play and got the biggest hit of the day.”
