By The Tampa Bay Rays committed three errors, and the offense was silent as the Orioles beat the Rays 6-1 for their third loss in a row.
Former Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Shane Baz had his best outing of the season, shutting down the Rays’ offense through five innings.
Baz, who picked up his second win of the season, allowed one run on seven hits, while striking out nine and walking two.
This was the first time in over a month that the Rays had lost three games in a row, and the first time they had lost a series against Cincinnati since April 20-22.
To compound the loss, Rays starter Griffin Jax was hit in the back with a 107.2 MPH liner off the bat of Leody Taveras.
Jax, dazed for a bit, was able to finish the inning and told reporters after the game that he feels he will be able to make his next scheduled start.
The big concern for the Rays right now is their porous defense. Usually a strong area for Tampa, that has not been the case this year, as the team has already committed 39 errors through 52 games and is on pace for 120-plus errors.
Compared with last year’s team, this is a real drop-off. The Rays made 72 errors last season with a .988 fielding percentage.
The Rays are still a good club, but their defense no longer helps them win games. It is costing them innings, pitch counts, and runs.
Tuesday’s loss to Baltimore was the clearest example: all six Orioles runs were unearned after three Rays errors and a passed ball.
Junior Caminero, who is quickly working his way to be an everyday DH, leads the Rays with nine errors, followed by Richie Palacios with five.
Jonathan Aranda and Nick Fortes each have four. Caminero’s fielding percentage at third base is .937, and that is a major reason that the defensive numbers look so rough.
The outfield has actually graded better than the infield, but the Rays’ infield instability has changed the feel of games. Extra outs are turning easy innings into multi-run innings. That is why this defense looks so bad: not just the total errors, but the timing of them.
As of May 27, the Rays rank 29th in MLB in errors per game at 0.75, ahead of only Washington. Last year, they were at 0.50 errors per game, so the current club is making mistakes at a much higher rate.
TeamRankings also shows the Rays have committed 2.33 errors per game over their last three games, including three on Tuesday in Baltimore.
The Rays will send Steven Matz to the mound Wednesday Night to try to put an end to the three-game losing streak.
