Tampa Bay Rays: Costly Error Dooms the Rays against Boston

Another game thrown away as a costly error sent the Tampa Bay Rays to defeat against the Boston Red Sox on Patriot’s Day.

Earlier today the Tampa Bay Rays were wrapping up their four-game series in Boston, a game they started with a 2-0 lead. However, things would go array shortly after.

This season the Rays have had a number of errors but the one in today’s game was one of the worst and it ended up costing them the game. In the bottom of the second, with two outs a routine play turned disastrous.

An accurate and on time throw from shortstop Tim Beckham to second baseman Brad Miller had all the marks of being and easy out, however the ball dropped out of Miller’s glove, runner is safe and the inning goes on.

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The Red Sox eventually ended up scoring three runs in the inning and Blake Snell would need an additional 24 more pitches in the inning before it was over as a result of Miller’s miscue.

This loss hurts for multiple different reasons. First of all the Rays started off the season with a 5-2 record despite having a handful of players on the DL (Matt Duffy, Mallex Smith, Colby Rasmus among others), the season was looking promising. Since that start, the Rays have gone 1-6 and now have lots of work to do.

Another reason that play was so damaging is because second year pitcher Blake Snell needs to get wins and some positive results to boost his confidence. Snell was pulled in his last start after 4.2 innings due to his pitch count (83 pitches), and the additional 24 today is concerning as he has yet to pitch beyond 6.2 innings in any of his starts dating back to last year.

Now Snell is starting the season with a 0-2 record and with some frustration. He needed the win not only to build his confidence, but the Rays needed the win to get out of their slump and get back on track.

Up next the Rays host a three-game series against the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers. While there are a number of games left, it still stinks to be the team that is fighting all season to get back in the playoff race.

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For most MLB players and fans losing hurts, but losing to the Red Sox hurts much worse.