The Athletics dropped the second game of their three-game series against the Rays on Tuesday night, losing in embarrassing fashion to Tampa Bay 12-4 on a warm night in Sacramento. The A’s will now have their backs up against the wall tomorrow as they’ll hope to avoid the sweep in front of the home crowd. And with the Angels’ win tonight, they need a win to avoid the cellar of the American League. How did it come to this?
Tampa didn’t wait to get going against A’s starter Mason Barnett. Just two batters
into the game the Rays were up 2-0 thanks to a two-run blast off the bat of Rays slugger Junior Caminero, his 35th of the year which puts him in a tie for the league lead.
Tampa would add on another in the third inning thanks to two walks and a wild pitch from Barnett, then three more in the fourth off back-to-back home runs, another two-run blast and a solo home run. After four innings the Rays had already tagged Barnett for six runs (five earned). That would be it for Barnett in this one, making way for lefty Brady Basso to start the fifth inning.
- Mason Barnett: 4 IP, 5 H, 6 R (5 ER), 3 BB, 0 K, 3 HR, 67 pitches
Not a great outing from Barnett and that’s back-to-back duds from the righty. There’s no guarantee he’s assured another start the next time through the rotation but with the lack of other options it’s likely he gets another go, which would come next against the team that traded him, the Kansas City Royals. Not a bad matchup to let the young pitcher go prove something.
Meanwhile the A’s were facing Tampa Bay right-hander Nick Martinez. The offseason acquisition has been a godsend for the Rays and is having a career year at age 36. That strong season continued tonight against the slumping A’s. Through the first three innings the club managed just one hit.
They would finally break through against Martinez in the fourth courtesy of a home run off the bat of Lawrence Butler, a two-run blast to cut into the Tampa lead:
That’s #8 on the year for Butler. Who else thinks the club rushed him back from double knee surgery this past offseason?
Tampa would add on another in the sixth off another solo home run off Basso, then two more off another two-run shot off Luis Medina in the seventh. And just for good measure a three-run home run off Yunior Tur in the eighth, their sixth long ball of the night.
That Butler homer was more or less it for the Green & Gold in this one. The A’s would add on two meaningless runs in the bottom of the ninth off a Carlos Cortes double but that was it as Martinez threw a 101-pitch complete game.
A tough night all around in every facet of the game. The pitching didn’t show up, the offense was silent outside of a Lawrence Butler home run, and now the A’s are facing the prospect of getting swept at home. Things are not going well in any sense of the word right now. Last place in the American League is a place we could possibly be by the end of the day tomorrow.
The series wraps up tomorrow afternoon in what’s expected to be a scorcher at the ballpark. Tampa Bay will go with right-hander Drew Rasmussen in the finale. Tampa’s ace is putting together another strong campaign leading the Rays’ pitching staff with a 2.75 ERA. It’s not going to be an easy task for the A’s bats to inflict damage against him. The Athletics meanwhile have yet to announce their starter but it lines up to be Jack Perkins. Perhaps we’ll have an opener for tomorrow’s series finale?
