Rays 1 Phillies 2: The bullpen is great, until it’s not

The Rays lost a close one to the Phillies tonight, losing on a bases loaded walk off single.

This was a classic low-scoring game. Rays pitchers Sulser and Alexander kept the Phillies hitless until the 6th inning, when Kyle Schwarber does what he always does, which is to hit the ball out of the park. His solo home run put the Phillies up 1-0.

The Rays seemed to be going quietly into the evening until the 9th, when Brandon Lowe, sore finger and all, tied the game:

Phillies centerfielder Johan Rojas seemed to have caught the ball at the rim of the fence, but the ball fell out of his glove and into the stands. Josh Lowe had an extended at bat that resulted in an infield single, and he promptly stole second, giving the Rays a chance to knock in the go-ahead run. But Ben Rortvedt flew out to end the inning.

All that stood between the Rays and another chance to score in the 10th was one Garret Cleavinger. Cleavinger’s season stats don’t look that terrible — before tonight his ERA was 3.29, but that 1.317 WHIP isn’t great for a high leverage reliever, and the eye test tells me that he’s been pretty bad for a while. He’s given up at least one run in six of his last ten appearances. That’s not the guy you want pitching with the game on the line.

So today he loaded the bases on one legit hit (Bryce Harper even thought it was a home run), one cheap hit and a walk, before yielding the walk off single that ended the game.

Tonight plus the Baltimore series suggests that right now the Rays can match pitching against the best teams. It’s taken until September to have the bullpen figured out (Cleavinger notwithstanding) and the defense has looked pretty sharp lately.

But this offense is mostly two out singles, and you just don’t score runs this way.