The bad news is that the Rays lost to the O’s… again. The good news is that the Rays only have to play the last place O’s two more times this season.
Playing for the fifth time in eight days, the Rays and O’s faced off in Baltimore opening a three-game set. After dropping three of four to the O’s at the Trop, the Rays were hoping to flip the script and return the favor at Camden Yards. Unfortunately, Pete Alonso had other plans.
Early on, it looked as though the Rays might in fact flip the script.
Despite falling behind 1-0 in the first on a Pete Alonso RBI single, the Rays jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in the top of the second inning. The Rays quickly tied it after Junior doubled and later scored on a Chandler Simpson RBI single. Then, later in the inning Kenny Piper hit his first big league homer. It was a blast to left-center field and gave the Rays a two-run advantage.
But, the pesky O’s just wouldn’t go away. Rays starter Freddy Peralta was unable to toss a clean, shutdown frame in the bottom half and the O’s cut the deficit to one run via a Dylan Beavers solo shot.
The 3-2 Rays lead would hold until the bottom of the fifth when the O’s broke out for three more runs. Peralta started the inning off by gifting the O’s a free baserunner, hitting Coby Mayo. Then, Coswer singled and just like that the O’s had men on the corners with nobody out. Nonetheless, Peralta was able to strikeout Leody Taveras and then had Jackson Holliday walking back to the dugout after two-strike check swing that was egregiously ruled a checked swing by the third base umpire. Not only did the call end Kevin Cash’s night as he was tossed for the first time this year, but it also gave Holliday new life at the plate and he didn’t waste it. A sacrifice fly tied the game at 3-3 and set the table for Pete Alonso to give the O’s the lead with two outs and a runner at first.
He wasted no time and launched a 2-2 fastball to the seats. His 30th homer of the year, seemingly all coming against the Rays over the last week. Just like that it was 5-3.
That score would hold and the Rays would eventually lose their fifth game in their last eight. Freddy Peralta went seven innings, surrendering five runs. He punched out six, walked one, and allowed seven hits. He was tagged with the loss, his 11th of the year. O’s starter Trevor Rogers earned the win tossing seven innings of three run ball. He punched out six, walked one, and allowed six hits.
