TAMPA — If the Rays are going to fulfill their prophecy of winning a lot of games this season, they are going to have to stop losing games like they did Tuesday.
The aftermath of the 4-3 loss to the Angels — extending their skid to five games after a 4-1 start — was littered with missed opportunities, bad decisions, mistakes and frustration.
Christopher Morel led that parade with what politely could be called an eventful night that cost the Rays in several ways — including getting ejected in the eighth inning, which caused a lineup shuffle that bit them.
“It can’t happen,” manager Kevin Cash said.
But it was a group effort, most notably with a glaring 2-for-13 showing with runners in scoring position.
That included having runners on third with no outs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings and getting none of them home.
“Very frustrating,” infielder/outfielder Jose Caballero said. “After coming from (being swept in Texas) and we had the chance to get the first one in this series, but baseball is like this and it didn’t go our way. We did everything right to put the run in scoring position, but we didn’t come up big in the right moment.”
That’s been a part of their problem, as over the five-game losing streak the Rays are 7-for-36 with runners in scoring position.
If this sounds familiar, it should.
An inability to drive in runs was a major problem last season, a primary topic of conversation throughout the winter and a big part of the focus during spring training.
Yes, as Cash mentioned, it’s still early. And the Rays were facing one of the top relievers in Kenley Jansen, who became the fourth ever to reach 450 saves.
But they clearly need to be better.
“It is frustrating,” Cash said. “It’s something that we talked about quite a bit in spring training, and it’s going to make our offense better when we start capitalizing in those situations and scoring runs.”
Plus, Cash said, it’s not only the physical act of getting a hit.
“You go up to the plate, you can put added pressure on yourself trying to do too much,” he said. “So, I think that’s kind of, collectively as a team, kind of what took place (Tuesday).”
Such as when Morel, who had objected to a strike-two call during his eighth inning at-bat with a runner on third and one out, slammed his bat to the ground after striking out and was ejected.
“That’s kind of what I was referring to is letting the emotion of the situation get to you, and it affects the at-bat, then it affects afterwards,” Cash said.
With Morel tossed, Cash had to use his bench differently, including moving smooth-fielding Caballero to leftfield in place of Morel and putting just-called-up Coco Montes at third.
That cost the Rays in the sequence that led to the decisive run in the ninth. With one out and one on, Pete Fairbanks got Taylor Ward to hit a grounder to third. But Montes bobbled the ball and — rather than get what Cash agreed should have been an inning-ending double play — had to settle for the out at first.
Because it wasn’t, Luis Rengifo followed with a single that put the Angels ahead to stay.
Morel said he knew he was wrong for losing his cool and apologized to some teammates and coaches,
“After what happened, I thought about it and I was like, ‘Well, I shouldn’t have done that,‘” Morel said. “But I’ve been battling since the first inning and the pitches, they were not in the zone. And I had that in my head.
“I was just trying to help the team, and I was trying to put the ball in play, and I should have done a little bit better.”
Morel had a lot to talk about.
In the second, he came up just short of robbing Kyren Paris’ home run as a fan, who umpires said wasn’t interfering and replay concurred, caught the ball without reaching over the wall. Morel said he “100%” would have caught it. “I felt like his glove went in my glove, too. That’s why I was getting, like, ‘Oh my God, I got my moment there and they catch the ball.‘”
In the fourth, Morel seemed to misplay a Travis d’Arnaud fly ball into a single, saying he lost the ball not in the lights but the clouds.
And in the seventh, when the Rays rallied for three runs with four straight hits (including Junior Caminero’s first homer) to open the inning, Morel had the embarrassing moment of pausing to admire his drive then throwing his bat in celebration of a homer, though the ball didn’t go out and he had only a double.
“The next time, I know I need to start and run right away,” Morel said.
When all was said, the Rays still were done.
“It’s frustrating to lose, period,” Caballero said . “Having the opportunities is what we play for. We’re trying to create opportunities to score runs, and then those situations, we just need to be more focused, I guess.
“But man, it’s not about the opportunity and missing the opportunity. It’s about not winning the game at the end of the game. Because I think creating the opportunity is what is going to get us to the point to win games. But it’s just bad that we haven’t been clutch in those situations.”
• • •
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TAMPA — If the Rays are going to fulfill their prophecy of winning a lot of games this season, they are going to have to stop losing games like they did Tuesday.
The aftermath of the 4-3 loss to the Angels — extending their skid to five games after a 4-1 start — was littered with missed opportunities, bad decisions, mistakes and frustration.
Christopher Morel led that parade with what politely could be called an eventful night that cost the Rays in several ways — including getting ejected in the eighth inning, which caused a lineup shuffle that bit them.
“It can’t happen,” manager Kevin Cash said.
But it was a group effort, most notably with a glaring 2-for-13 showing with runners in scoring position.
That included having runners on third with no outs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings and getting none of them home.
“Very frustrating,” infielder/outfielder Jose Caballero said. “After coming from (being swept in Texas) and we had the chance to get the first one in this series, but baseball is like this and it didn’t go our way. We did everything right to put the run in scoring position, but we didn’t come up big in the right moment.”
That’s been a part of their problem, as over the five-game losing streak the Rays are 7-for-36 with runners in scoring position.
If this sounds familiar, it should.
An inability to drive in runs was a major problem last season, a primary topic of conversation throughout the winter and a big part of the focus during spring training.
Yes, as Cash mentioned, it’s still early. And the Rays were facing one of the top relievers in Kenley Jansen, who became the fourth ever to reach 450 saves.
But they clearly need to be better.
“It is frustrating,” Cash said. “It’s something that we talked about quite a bit in spring training, and it’s going to make our offense better when we start capitalizing in those situations and scoring runs.”
Plus, Cash said, it’s not only the physical act of getting a hit.
“You go up to the plate, you can put added pressure on yourself trying to do too much,” he said. “So, I think that’s kind of, collectively as a team, kind of what took place (Tuesday).”
Such as when Morel, who had objected to a strike-two call during his eighth inning at-bat with a runner on third and one out, slammed his bat to the ground after striking out and was ejected.
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“That’s kind of what I was referring to is letting the emotion of the situation get to you, and it affects the at-bat, then it affects afterwards,” Cash said.
With Morel tossed, Cash had to use his bench differently, including moving smooth-fielding Caballero to leftfield in place of Morel and putting just-called-up Coco Montes at third.
That cost the Rays in the sequence that led to the decisive run in the ninth. With one out and one on, Pete Fairbanks got Taylor Ward to hit a grounder to third. But Montes bobbled the ball and — rather than get what Cash agreed should have been an inning-ending double play — had to settle for the out at first.
Because it wasn’t, Luis Rengifo followed with a single that put the Angels ahead to stay.
Morel said he knew he was wrong for losing his cool and apologized to some teammates and coaches,
“After what happened, I thought about it and I was like, ‘Well, I shouldn’t have done that,‘” Morel said. “But I’ve been battling since the first inning and the pitches, they were not in the zone. And I had that in my head.
“I was just trying to help the team, and I was trying to put the ball in play, and I should have done a little bit better.”
Morel had a lot to talk about.
In the second, he came up just short of robbing Kyren Paris’ home run as a fan, who umpires said wasn’t interfering and replay concurred, caught the ball without reaching over the wall. Morel said he “100%” would have caught it. “I felt like his glove went in my glove, too. That’s why I was getting, like, ‘Oh my God, I got my moment there and they catch the ball.‘”
In the fourth, Morel seemed to misplay a Travis d’Arnaud fly ball into a single, saying he lost the ball not in the lights but the clouds.
And in the seventh, when the Rays rallied for three runs with four straight hits (including Junior Caminero’s first homer) to open the inning, Morel had the embarrassing moment of pausing to admire his drive then throwing his bat in celebration of a homer, though the ball didn’t go out and he had only a double.
“The next time, I know I need to start and run right away,” Morel said.
When all was said, the Rays still were done.
“It’s frustrating to lose, period,” Caballero said . “Having the opportunities is what we play for. We’re trying to create opportunities to score runs, and then those situations, we just need to be more focused, I guess.
“But man, it’s not about the opportunity and missing the opportunity. It’s about not winning the game at the end of the game. Because I think creating the opportunity is what is going to get us to the point to win games. But it’s just bad that we haven’t been clutch in those situations.”
• • •
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