Game 141: Not the Rays’ Best Day… Let’s Move On

On Tuesday, the Orioles beat the Rays’ 9-2. That’s about all you need to know,. You can stop reading now.

Matt Moore‘s fastball command was decent on Tuesday. He was able to throw it for strikes a solid percentage of the time with a good amount of swings-and-misses. But his secondary pitches had nothing all night. Moore’s fastball is a plus-plus pitch when he commands it. But especially the second time and the third time through the order, he needed another pitch to go to. His changeup and breaking ball deserted him. In the 3rd, a hanging changeup turned into a 2-run home run by J.J. Hardy. And with his fastball the only pitch he could rely on, hitters knew it was coming and just kept fouling it off, and forced Moore to throw pitch after pitch just to get outs. Moore lasted just 4 innings, throwing 92 pitches in the process. He was shooting blanks but he found some way to hold the Orioles to 3 runs, 2 earned. The Rays were down just 3-1 when he departed. But the bullpen came in and everything blew up.

Ryan Roberts and Elliot Johnson slammed solo homers for the two Rays runs. Roberts later left the game with a forearm strain from getting run into on a stolen base attempt, but X-rays were negative and he should be OK. Also leaving the game was Orioles starter and ex-Ray Jason Hammel after just 3.2 innings after landing awkwardly on his right knee that had recently undergone surgery. But while the Rays bullpen got lit up, the Rays offense could do nothing against the Orioles bullpen. You get the idea. The Rays had an awful loss- but it counts for just one game in the standings. The Rays move on tomorrow, sending Alex Cobb to the hill against Miguel Gonzalez.