Rays 0, Orioles 5: Rays bats fall silent in shutout loss

A nice start from Taj Bradley dampened by offensive offense.

It was a low-scoring, low-action outing in St. Pete today as the Rays struggled to even get a man on base through the game. Let’s just jump into how things went.

Taj Bradley was on the mound for the Rays, up against Kyle Bradish for the Orioles, and both pitchers were dialed in throughout the game.

The top of the first saw a two-out single from Ryan Mountcastle, but the Orioles failed to bring him home. Yandy Diaz singled to kick off the home half of the inning, and that was the only hit the Rays would see for quite some time, so it was nice to get the no-hitter off the table in the first at-bat.

Anthony Santander walked to start the second, quickly followed by three outs. The Rays then went 1-2-3 in the bottom half.

Adley Rutschman got a two-out single in the top of the third, but again the Orioles could not take advantage of the baserunner. Three Rays outs followed.

Ryan O’Hearn homered for the Orioles to start the fourth inning, putting the birds on the board and breaking up a double-zero pitching duel to give the O’s the first run of the game. Bradley recovered to get the next three outs in order. Meanwhile the Rays yet again went three-up, three-down.

The fifth inning was 1-2-3 for both sides, and was also the end of the day for Bradley, whose final line was 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR on 99 pitches. A nice outing for Bradley.

Shawn Armstrong came out of the pen in the sixth, giving up a walk to Rutschman, and a one-out double to Anthony Santander, but no runs scored. It will shock you to learn that the Rays didn’t get a single baserunner in the bottom half of the inning.

Colin Poche was next out of the bullpen, and he too issued a leadoff walk, this one to Colton Cowser. Cowser stole second with two outs, and then Gunnar Henderson walked to put two men on. Poche pitched out of the jam, however, and the Orioles didn’t add any runs. The Rays once again failed to get so much as a hit.

In the eighth it was Jason Adam’s turn to play reliever. Ryan O’Hearn got a one-out single, then stole second. Jordan Westburg tripled, and Jose Siri very nearly caught it, but the ball unfortunately popped out of his glove, and the O’s scored another run in the form of O’Hearn. Surprise, surprise, no Rays hits in the home half. No walks. Nothing.

Phil Maton was the Rays’ man for the ninth. He gave up a leadoff single to Connor Norby. Cedric Mullins walked, and then Henderson homered to bring in three runs. Ouch. Mountcastle walked, followed by an Austin Hays double, and that was it for Maton. Kevin Kelly got the call next and got the next two outs. Into the bottom of the ninth and it was once again Yandy Diaz with a two-out hit. That was it for the Rays though, as the shutout was completed one out later.

Final: Orioles 5, Rays 0