With games like this, the loss seems overdetermined. You can bemoan the lack of offense, but if your pitching is giving up nine runs you probably aren’t winning.
And you can shake your head about the terrible pitching (eight earned runs, ten hits, eight walks — this was a slog!) but clearly it’s tough to win with three hits (even with two of those being solo home runs).
The first three games of the season we’ve been treated to three games of traditional starting pitchers, who have all done well (except that one inning from Eflin which I’ve forgotten already). So today was the first game of 2024 when we get the bullpen day/opener/bulk combos the Rays are known for.
And…it didn’t go so well. Shawn Armstrong struggled in the first, giving up a single, walk and single for a 1-0 Toronto lead. A passed ball pushed the runners to second and third, and then the luck dragons frowned on us; a grounder hit off of Armstrong’s back and took a strange carom, landing for an RBI single. Kudos to Brandon Lowe for keeping that ball in the infield, even if he didn’t have a play. A nifty double play ended the inning with the Rays down, 2-0. It could have been worse!
The Rays did get one run back in the bottom of the first with a nice Arozarena oppo home run.
The second inning marked the Rays debut of Tyler Alexander, the 29 year old lefty acquired off waivers from Detroit. Would he be the next “middling reliever turned into a star” in the mold of Jeffrey Springs? Well, not today! He got two outs in the second, and it looked like maybe this game was going to stay close. But then he gave up a single, two walks, and a double to Justin Turner to score two runs. He seemed to be on the verge of collapse, struggling to find the strike zone and even getting a pitch clock violation, but he did manage to get that third out. Still, in the middle of the second the Rays were on the wrong side of a 4-1 game.
Two innings and two home runs later, one with a man on base, the Rays were on the wrong side of a 7-1 deficit, as Alexander gave way to Waguespack. And before he was gone that was a 9-1 deficit.
As for the Rays offense, that Arozarena home run was pretty much the extent of it until Isaac Paredes tacked on another solo home run during the dying ember phase of the ninth inning.
Whatever scouting report the team was using to pitch to Justin Turner (who had three hits and four RBI) — don’t use it again.
We’re back at it tomorrow, for the Rays debut of Ryan Pepiot.
