Rays Defense Stumbles In Loss To Rangers

By Lily Belcher

Unusually erroneous defense and lackluster pitching gave the Rangers the edge in the Rays’ 8-4 loss Saturday night.

Rookie Taj Bradley took the mound looking for his fifth win of the season, but was pulled after 3 2/3 innings after giving up five runs. He gave up 53 pitches through the first two frames before regaining some control in his final five outs.

“He just kind of fell behind guys,” said Kevin Cash about the 22-year-old right hander. “The pitch count kind of carried throughout that outing.”

With one on in the second, second baseman Vidal Bruján fielded a ground ball, turned to Wander Franco to get the out at second, but bounced the pass into the clay as the ball skipped all the way to the left field wall. Jonah Heim scored off the error from first to put the Rangers on the board. Two outs later, Corey Seager, who went 5-for-5 with four RBI, sent a two-run double down the right field line in the second.

“It looked like the ball Bruján threw away kinda of snowballed a little bit,” said Cash.

Texas tacked on their fourth run charged to Bradley off an RBI double by Seager. Jalen Beeks relieved Bradley on the bump and promptly gave up a first-pitch two-run homer.

The Rays answered in the bottom of the inning with their own RBI double and three-run blast by Francisco Mejía to cut the Rangers’ to 6-4.

Both Randy Arozarena and Jose Siri bobbled catches in the outfield.  Arozarena misjudged a hit by Heim off the left field wall, giving up a double in the fifth that was ultimately inconsequential after an infield pop out ended the inning.

Siri overran a basehit by Seager to put runners on the corners in the sixth. A double by Adolis Garcia brought the Rangers’ score to eight for the final two runs of the game.

The embarrassing loss showed rare weaknesses in the AL dominating team and snapped the Rays’ league-leading seven game win streak.

“It’s very uncharacteristic, not only for [Bruján], but for all our guys,” said Cash.

But, at 47-20, one loss to a non-rival team isn’t a cause for concern. Saturday’s hiccup was merely a reminder for the Rays to not get too cocky in the field.

Sitting 5.5 games over second-place Baltimore, the Rays will host the Rangers in the Sunday matinee rubber match before a week-long road trip to the West Coast.  All-Stars Shane McClanahan and Martín Pérez are set to take the bump in game three of the series.