After a rough start, May turned out to be a positive month for Tampa Bay. But after only three games in June, fans are starting to wonder where the momentum went.
Just 11 days into May, the Rays were barely hanging on to fourth place in the division and were 7.5 games out of first place. But on May 12th, things changed.
Over the rest of the month, the Rays won five series and split one, securing a 17-13 record for May, and a 29-27 record overall. But after being swept by the Mariners to start off June, Tampa Bay is back under .500 once again.
Texas
Midway through a long road trip, the Rays visited the Rangers in Arlington for a three-game series.
Rays Up:
Monday saw a late inning comeback, including a 2 RBI double by Colby Rasmus before a 3-run blast from Tim Beckham (8). The five run seventh inning gave call-up Jose De Leon his first major league win. But after giving up three runs on four hits in only 2.2 innings, De Leon was sent back to triple-A Durham carrying a 10.13 ERA.
During the series, the Rays hit a total of nine homers. With the couple they added in the next series, Tampa Bay is second in all of Major League Baseball with 88 home runs.
Bullpen pitchers had several positive outings in Texas. Chih-Wei Hu and Austin Pruitt threw hitless relief innings, including Pruitt collecting the win on Monday. Closer Alex Colome picked up two saves, giving him 15 on the year.
Chris Archer got himself in the Rays record books during his start…
With @ChrisArcher22‘s 4th K, he now owns the Rays record for most strikeouts in a single month with 55 – passing David Price (June ’14). pic.twitter.com/MU7MS5lP6q
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) June 1, 2017
Rays Down:
Starters were knocked around, resulting in no decisions for Erasmo Ramirez, Matt Andriese, and Archer. Andriese only made it 1.2 innings before being replaced Tuesday. The day after the game, he was put on the 10-day disable list with a groin strain. Tampa Bay hopes to add him back to the line-up sometime in June.
Although the Rays won the series 2-1, they had to work from behind for both victories, including the extra-inning affair on Wednesday.
Aside from the faltering, Tampa Bay still completed the month above .500 and closing in on New York, Boston, and Baltimore.
Seattle
Riding the high of three positive weeks, and coming off a much needed day off Thursday, the Rays finished off their road trip against the Mariners at Safeco Field.
Rays Up:
On Friday and Saturday, all of the Rays scoring came off of home runs. Rasmus (7), Beckham (9), and Kevin Kiermaier (7) on Friday, and Corey Dickerson (13) and Logan Morrison (16) on Saturday.
Dickerson’s lead off home run gave him the single season franchise record with six, and its only the beginning of June!
For Morrison, his homer on Saturday was his 100th in his career.
That’s 100 career homers for LoMo. Congrats! pic.twitter.com/vxOgnWu0lb
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) June 4, 2017
Rays Down:
Jake Odorizzi, Alex Cobb, and Ramirez all collected loses over the weekend. The team ERA fell to 4.04, which is 10th in the majors. Cobb took the worst hit, allowing nine runs on 14 hits over 5.0 innings.
Former Ray Taylor Motter knocked the chip off his shoulder with a grand slam Friday off Odorizzi, which was part of the eight runs he gave up over 2.1 innings. Only three of those runs were earned, after three batters were walked and one reached on a fielding error.
Tampa Bay bats were considerably silenced from their hot three week stretch. Aside from the five home runs combined in the first two games, the Rays only combined for 14 other hits in the series, for 19 in total, while Seattle combined for 38.
Manager Kevin Cash on the sweep…
.@RaysBaseball manager Kevin Cash says the team was beaten from the first inning Friday through the end of the series in Seattle. #MLB pic.twitter.com/Mx6iudiSCV
— FOX Sports Florida (@FOXSportsFL) June 4, 2017
Rays Worst:
Tampa Bay was outscored 28-7 during the sweep by Seattle, sending them back under the .500 line at 29-30. The upside to that is that they have only three less losses than the division leading Yankees. The Rays have also played more games than everyone else in the A.L. East, including five more than those same division leaders.
Up Next
After a day off Monday, the Rays take on the Chicago White Sox (24-31) for three and the Oakland A’s (24-32) for four games over the weekend. Seven games in six days, you ask? Well on Saturday, the Rays will host the first scheduled single-admission double header since last season and only the second since 1996.
