By The Tampa Bay Rays kicked off the 2026 season in St. Louis with a 9-7 loss to the Cardinals to start the season 0-1.
The Rays’ 2026 opener had it all. Strong starting pitching by the Rays, excellent offensive production, and a gut-wrenching bullpen collapse all added up to a Cardinals win.
There was a lot to like and a lot not to like from the Rays in game one.
The Rays’ offense, at least for one game, was better than advertised. The Rays banged out 17 hits, led by Yandy Diaz, Ben Williamson, and Nick Fortes, who each had three hits in the loss.
Jonathan Aranda homered for the Rays, tying the game at 1-1 in the fifth inning. The Rays continued to build that lead to 7-1 after five innings, and it looked as if the Rays would get their first win of the season.
For five innings, the Rays were on point and in control of the game behind Drew Rasmussen’s strong start.
Rasmussen allowed just one run on four hits while keeping the Cardinals off-balance with his arsenal of pitches.
But baseball is a nine-inning game, and the Tampa bullpen looked as if they were still in spring training mode, giving up seven runs in the sixth inning as the Cardinals stormed back, taking an 8-7 lead after six innings.
Ian Seymour replaced Drew Rasmussen after five innings and could not get one out in the sixth inning, giving up five runs on five hits, before being replaced by Garrett Cleavinger.
Cleavinger managed to get one out but gave up two runs, and was replaced by Gavin Jax, who gave up one run before shutting down the Cardinals’ hitting barrage in the sixth inning.
Alex Burleson and rookie J.J. Weatherholt both homered for the Cardinals. Burleson delivered the big blow, hitting a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning, giving the Cardinals the lead 9-7, a lead that they would not relinquish.
Former Ray, Matthew Liberatore, started for the Cardinals and gave up one run in five innings of work to get the win.
The St. Louis bellpen then took over in the sixth inning and slammed the door, keeping the Rays offense in check.
The Rays left 16 runners on base, and despite the 17 hits the offense generated, if you can’t get a hit with runners in scoring position, you are not going to win many games.
The Rays found out Thursday Afternoon the importance of timely hitting and getting a base hit when you have runners on base.
Junior Cameinero did not have a great game. Fresh from his time with the Dominican Republic this spring in the WBC, Camienero made two errors in the field, walked twice, and struck out once, while getting a base hit in the season opener.
This will be an interesting year two for Cameinero, as opponents know what damage he can do when he makes contact.
That was evidenced by his three walks yesterday, as pitchers seem ready not to challenge Caminero at the plate, but are content to issue a walk and not let him swing away.
If the Rays are going to contend in 2026, games like this can’t happen.
The good news is this is only game 1 of 162, and there is plenty of time to get issues corrected.
The Rays return to action Saturday Afternoon in St. Louis with Joe Boyle getting his first start for the Rays.
