It was always going to be a rough outing for the Diamondbacks today. The Rays were going for the series sweep that would keep them in possession of first place in the AL East. Tampa sent Drew Rasmussen to the mound, he of the 2.62 ERA. Rasmussen wasted no time in the first inning, getting three outs on only eight pitches. That brought Merrill Kelly in to face the Rays with the goal of going deep and keeping the team in the game while doing so. Kelly started things off going single, walk, single, allowing
Caminero to drive in the first run of the game. Kelly finally got the first out by striking out Victor Mesa, Jr. Kelly then induced a 1-6-3 double play to get out of the inning without further damage.
Four more pitches from Rasmussen led to two more outs by the Snakes. That brought Pavin Smith to the plate. The first-ever draft pick by Mike Hazen broke up the no-hitter by lacing a liner into left that Tampa’s Chandler Simpson misplayed into a double, setting the stage for Nolan Arenado. Alas, Arenado was unable to push Smith across to score, ending the inning with Rasmussen on 20 pitches after two innings where Kelly threw 21 in the first. The game did not get more promising as the Rays came up in the bottom half of the inning. Adrian Del Castillo was catching and was unable to track a high pop-up behind the plate on a 1-2 count to Cedric Mullins. Given a second life, Mullins took Kelly deep and put the Rays up by a pair. A quick out by Ben Williamson was followed by a Tyler Walls single. Then, a perfectly executed hit-and-run put runners on the corners. Yandy Diaz brought in Walls from third with a long fly to Corbin Carroll in right. Carroll then had to get on his horse to track down a flyball by Jonathan Aranda to get Kelly and the Diamondbacks out of the second inning.
Drew Rasmussen made quick work of Arizona’s first two hitters before Ketel Marte managed to reach via the most phantom of HBP, one that required replay review in order to award Marte first. That brought up Perdomo with the opportunity to lift the Diamondbacks back into the game. Perdomo extended the at-bat into a full count. That got Ketel Marte running with the pitch and Perdomo lined the pitch into right. The liner was hard enough that Marte was still forced to stop at second. This set the table for Corbin Carroll to do something big. Carroll got ahead in the count 2-0. He then worked the count full before fouling off four pitches. Rasmussen then came and got a strike three call on the bottom inside corner that Carroll felt was ball four. While taking off his shinguard, Brian Walsh rang him up. Walsh then informed Carroll that he took too long to appeal in order to overturn the call. Review during the commercial break showed that he would have lost the challenge if it had been allowed. So, while the Diamondbacks did not score, they did at least finally make Rasmussen put in some work, as he was forced to throw 34 pitches in that inning.
Kelly started the third off with a leadoff walk. He then made relatively quick and quiet work of the next three batters to toss his first scoreless frame of the day. Adrian Del Castillo led things off for the Diamondbacks in the fourth. The backup catcher promptly dumped a single into left. That brought up Lourdes Gurriel Jr. This was an odd plate appearance. On a 1-1 pitch, Rasmussen threw a cutter that backed up on Gurriel, who swung right through it. However, the ball was so far in on him that after swinging, he took the pitch of his back (right) shoulder, right around the collar bone. The first base umpire, Chad Whitson indicated that Gurriel was hit trying to get out of the way and did not commit a swing. As far as bad calls go, this was a doozy, but it gave the Snakes some life, putting runners at first and second with nobody out and Pavin Smith coming to the plate. Smith drove Mullins back to the edge of the track in center, allowing Del Castillo to tag up to third. With runners on the corners, only one out, and Rasmussen starting to look shaky, Nolan Arenado stepped in and turned in one of his more forgettable plate appearances. He was followed by early-season star, Ildemaro Vargas, who flew out meekly to left, ending Arizona’s threat and sending Kelly back to the mound with a three-run deficit. A three pitch strikeout of Ben Williamson was followed by getting two groundouts on three pitches. Merrill Kelly finally looked settled in. Now, if only the offence could figure out how to string together some hits.
The Diamondbacks continued to struggle to put anything together. The only thing of note was that Geraldo Perdomo managed to draw a two-out walk, only the 16th walk issued by Rasmussen this season. Thus it was that we moved on to the bottom of the fifth inning. With Merrill Kelly trying to keep the quality start in-tact. The Rays sent Yandy Diaz to the plate to lead off their half the inning. Diaz appeared to hurt himself on a big 0-2 swing but remained in the game after being looked at by trainers. As the count worked itself full, Diaz continued to foul off pitches, looking like he was in serious pain after every swing. On the 10th pitch, he meekly grounded out to Perdomo. Granted, as the DH, there are rules that apply if he is lifted from the game. But the Rays leaving him out there when he was obviously not right is not a good look. Kelly made quick work of Aranda, which brought Caminero to the plate. Caminero wasted no time doing Caminero things, sending a 92 mph cutter 463 feet into left center. Thus ended Merrill Kelly’s bid for a quality start. Victor Mesa contributed a single and a stolen base, but Kelly managed to strand him there.
The Diamondbacks’ sixth inning barely out-lasted the hydration break in the South Africa/Canada Round of 32 game that dropped at the same time. A Ben Williamson home run tacked on another run to Kelly’s final line as he took the mound for the sixth. The Rays then had Rasmussen turn the ball over to Craig Kimbrel for the seventh inning. Despite Kimbrel no longer being the dominant closer he once was, the Diamondbacks were still unable to do anything against him. The Diamondbacks then turned to Jonathan Loáisiga. The Rays countered by lifting DH Yandy Diaz for pinch-hitter Richie Palacios. Palacios and Aranda both grounded out to Pavin Smith at first before Caminero came up and dropped a single into right center field, just out of the reach of a diving Tommy Troy.
The eighth inning saw Ketel Marte step in to get things started. And get things started he did, as he took new relief pitcher Garrett Cleavinger 415 feet to straight away center, breaking up the shutout. A strikeout by Perdomo and a weak groundout by Corbin Carroll brought up Adrian Del Castillo’s spot in the lineup. Torey Lovullo went to his bench and had Gabriel Moreno pinch hit for the backup catcher. Five pitches later, Moreno struck out, bringing an end to the Diamondbacks’ eighth inning and also bringing to a close a scoreless first-half draw in Los Angeles between South Africa and Canada.
Drey Jameson came out for the eighth inning. Chandler Simpsson greeted him by clobbering a double. Cedric Mullins then struck out. Gabriel Moreno gunned down Simpson trying to steal third, and Ben Williamson popped out to Carroll in shallow right to bring the eighth inning to a quiet end.
The Rays turned to Trevor Martin to close the game. Lourdes Gyrriel Jr, lifted a pitch just over the reach of the shortstop, Walls for a leadoff single. Pavin Smith then lifted a flyball to Williamson in foul ground in left. Arenado struck out. Ildemaro Vargas popped p to second. The game ended 5-1 in favour of the Rays, dropping the Diamondbacks back to a game below .500. About the only highlight from the final nine outs of the game is that they went by fast enough that the World Cup game was only 70 seconds out of the half as the Diamondbacks went back to lick their wounds after getting swept in Tampa and dropping six of the last eight.
Comment of the Day
The gameday thread was rather depressing today, filled with plenty of understandable frustrations and predictions of doom and gloom. As such, the levity here was appreciated.
The Diamondbacks need to make their way to the airport with a quickness now, as they are slated to take on the Giants tomorrow, at home in Phoenix. First pitch is slated for 6:40 MST with the Giants sending Tyler Mahle to the mound to face off against Eduardo Rodriguez. Here’s to hoping that the Diamondbacks can get as right as they did last time they faced the Giants.
