Rough night for Rays all around in lopsided loss to Giants
SAN FRANCISCO — Zack Littell enjoyed his return to the Oracle Park mound on Tuesday night, working strongly into the sixth inning to continue an impressive transition from reliever to starter.
But that was about all that went right for the Rays, as whatever good they seemed to generate in Monday’s lopsided win over the Giants disappeared on Tuesday in an ugly 7-0 loss.
Their bats went quiet. A night after scoring 10 runs and rapping a season-high 18 hits, they were shut out (for the fifth time this season) and shut down, managing just three singles against a quartet of Giants pitchers. One of their most reliable relievers, Rule 5 rookie Kevin Kelly, had a rough outing. And their defense got a little sloppy, an errant throw by catcher Rene Pinto scoring two runs and a missed tag another.
“Things were just going their way today, just like for us (Monday) things were going our way,” said centerfielder Jose Siri, via team interpreter Manny Navarro. “They’ve got to feed their family as well, so they had to do the work they needed to do.”
The loss dropped the Rays to 72-50, and 10-7 after their majors-worst 5-15 streak to start July, as they stayed three games behind the American League East-leading Orioles, who also lost.
Manager Kevin Cash attributed the Rays’ lack of offense somewhat to their hitters but mostly to the Giants pitching, both how well they did and how they were used in a Tampa Bay-like style. Jeffrey Junis delivered a four-inning opening assignment, lefty Sean Manaea worked the next 3 1/3, and relievers Tyler Rogers and Luke Jackson finished up.
“Junis had a good breaking ball, obviously, that we kind of swung through a lot or took. He pitched well,” Cash said. “Then Manaea came in and had a good fastball. Kind of just a nice complement to each other. We’ve seen that work in our favor. (Tuesday), it didn’t work for us at the plate. They did a good job pitching.”
Littell did the same for the Rays, shutting out the Giants for the first five innings, then allowing a one-out solo homer in the sixth and a two-out single before being lifted; he threw 52 of his 79 pitches for strikes, fanning five.
“That’s kind of the goal every time I go out there, it’s just kind of pound (the zone), make those guys swing,” Littell said. “I kind of had everything going, commanded the fastball well, tried to stay in the top of the zone. Just everything was overall really good. Happy where I was at. Body felt good. (Pitch) shapes were really good. Thought I sequenced really well. Just tried to go after guys.”
He had spent 2021-22 with the Giants and is still friends with many of their players, and his previous appearance at Oracle Park ended in some controversy as he aggressively gave the ball to Giants manager Gabe Kapler, leading to some words in the dugout tunnel as well. (Kapler got kicked out Tuesday for arguing a strike call that Littell got, but Littell said he didn’t think that was indicative of any lingering issue.)
Tuesday was the fifth traditional start Littell has made, and Cash noted how much they have needed him, having now lost Shane McClanahan to Tommy John surgery that will sideline him until 2025, in addition to Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen from their original rotation.
“He was really good,” Cash said. “What Zack’s providing for us is really, really impressive and really, really helpful.”
The problem is what happened next, as a 1-0 deficit quickly ballooned. Kelly, who had allowed one homer to his first 217 batters over 47 games this season, allowed another on his first pitch, to Wilmer Flores.
Though Cash said Kelly actually threw the ball well, the next inning wasn’t much better as the Giants loaded the bases on a single, a walk and an error by first baseman Yandy Diaz. With two outs, Pinto tried to pick Patrick Bailey off third, and the ball sailed off the glove of third baseman Isaac Paredes, allowing two runs to score.
Pinto had no excuses, saying he thought he had a play to get them out of the inning, but “I just threw it high.”
Cash said Pinto’s intentions were good. “He’s trying to get him out of a jam,” Cash said, “There was a lot of pitches right there. ... He just overthrew it to Isaac. If he picks him off, it’s the greatest play of the game.”
The Giants added two more in the eighth off Erasmo Ramirez, the first when Michael Conforto drove a ball over the head of leftfielder Randy Arozarena, who earlier made a wild run for a foul ball and flipped scarily over the side wall but was OK. The relay throw via Osleivis Basabe beat Joc Pederson to the plate, but the hefty DH nimbly avoided Pinto’s tag in what Cash called “an athletic move on the slide.”
Pinto said the play happened quickly and he thought he played it correctly, so he was surprised at the call, which was upheld after a replay challenge. “Kind of, yes,” Pinto said. “I was in between, like 50-50.”
It was that kind of night for the Rays.
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