Tampa Bay Rays’ Randy Arozarena reacts after his two-run home run off Chicago White Sox starting … [+]
The Rays were only 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position in their 4-1 win over the Royals on Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field. Fortunately for Kevin Cash’s team, one of the hits was with the bases loaded and it went for extra bases.
Brandon Lowe’s pinch-hit three-run triple gave the Rays a 3-1 lead. Jose Siri followed with a single to score Lowe and suddenly a team that is 23rd in MLB in batting (.231) and tied for 25th in OPS (.653) with runners in scoring position had a little momentum going into what was a day off on Memorial Day. The timely hitting was a sight for the many sore eyes of Rays fans who saw their team go 8-for-49 (.163) with runners in scoring position during a six-game losing streak.
During a season in which nothing has come easily, the Rays had to overcome Kansas City’s Michael Wacha. The former Ray was perfect through five. At this rate, though, nobody asks how it gets done, as long as it gets done.
The Rays, of course, hope that Sunday’s win was something more than a momentary reprieve. Rather, it is a sign of clutch hits and victories to come.
“If we keep going out there, keep putting those good swings on the ball, we will start finding more holes and things will start turning out in our favor,” said Lowe, who, prior to his triple was 1-for-16 since returning from an oblique strain sustained during the season’s second week.
One might think a team that has scored five or fewer runs in nine straight games is about to turn the tables. Certainly, Randy Arozarena, whose average has not been as high as .170 since April 19 – you read that correctly – is going to start making some noise. Alas, there are no guarantees. After all, Tampa Bay’s left fielder has been on a skid that dates to last September, a month in which he hit .216 will all of seven RBI.
Arozarena is far from alone. While noticeably better at the plate in recent weeks, Yandy Diaz, the 2023 American League batting champ, has as many errors (four) as home runs and is hitting .249 with a .670 OPS. Harold Ramirez, mothballed for a week while the Rays faced a bevy of righthanded pitchers, is hitting .272, but with a .289 on-base percentage and .602 OPS.
Ben Rortvedt certainly picked up some of the slack earlier this season, though he is 7-for-41 (.171) in May. Fellow catcher Alex Jackson is 1-for-30 with 17 strikeouts since being summoned from Triple-A Durham on May 3. In other words, the catchers have combined to hit .112 this month.
While Siri drove in the final run during the Rays’ decisive four-run seventh inning Sunday, he is hitting .128 (5-for-39) in May and .148 (16-for-108) since April 2.
Lowe and a pair of fellow lefty hitters, Josh Lowe and Jonathan Aranda, who did not make their season debut until this month thanks to injuries incurred during spring training, have combined to hit .211. Adding injury to insult, Josh Lowe is back on the IL with a right oblique strain, the same injury that resulted in his missing the first 34 games of the season and which derailed his return after initially being sidelined early in the Grapefruit League schedule with hip inflammation.
It does not seem like the numbers can get any worse. Again, there are no guarantees. At least in snapping their six-game skid, the Rays went into the holiday respite on a winning note.
“The guys needed to feel good about something, feel good about themselves,” said Cash, whose team heads into Tuesday’s series opener against visiting Oakland having played one-third of their games and is 26-28.
Whether the Rays can build on that good feeling is something with which they have little choice. After all, the schedule indicates that it is not early anymore. The same schedule reflects they are going to have to perform some heavy lifting on the road. When the series against the A’s concludes Thursday afternoon, the Rays will have played 35 games at home and only 22 on the road.
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