The opener of Tampa Bay’s seven-game homestand was a prime example of why the Rays will come up short in their efforts for a playoff berth for the second straight season.
The Rays will try to get the bats going after a brutal night at the plate when they face the American League East-leading Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night.
Tampa Bay (73-77) managed just one hit from the second through the 10th innings and had only four total while losing 2-1 in 11 innings. The hosts struck out a season-high 18 times, including three times in the final frame with the potential tying run at third base and the potential winning run at first.
Reliever Braylon Fisher locked down the fifth straight win for Toronto (88-62) with consecutive whiffs of Brandon Lowe, All-Star Junior Caminero and Josh Lowe.
“We had every opportunity, just weren’t able to make the most of it,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said.
A punchless offense has been the fourth-place club’s nemesis for most of the season despite Caminero nearing franchise history, needing three homers to break Carlos Pena’s single-season record of 46.
After appearing to be done for the season due to fatigue and skipping a start, Rays right-hander Ryan Pepiot (11-10, 3.59 ERA) will return to the mound on Tuesday.
Over two career starts against the Blue Jays, Pepiot is 1-1 with a 2.08 ERA. He took the loss after going six innings on May 14 in Toronto’s 3-1 home win, allowing all the runs on Alejandro Kirk’s three-run homer. Eleven days later, he fired seven shutout innings in a 13-0 victory over the visiting Blue Jays.
Winners of six of their past seven games, the Blue Jays were impressed the major league debut of top prospect Trey Yesavage on Monday. He allowed one run on three hits and two walks in five-plus innings. He fanned nine, showing a split-finger fastball that got 11 swing and misses.
Yesavage, 22, set a team record by a pitcher for total strikeouts in his debut.
The right-hander also produced a 52.8 percent whiff rate, the highest by any Blue Jays starting pitcher since tracking began in 2009. In that span, it was the highest by any starting pitcher in a major league debut featuring at least 60 pitches.
With his newness an asset against competition that hasn’t faced him, the powerful Yesavage, who features an unusually high, over-the-top delivery, will almost assuredly slot into the team’s postseason.
“We’ll see, it’s one outing,” manager John Schneider said. “But he’s shown he can go through an order multiple times. I think the biggest driving force or factor in our decision was the amount of swing-and-miss he can generate, too. It’s really beneficial for us going forward to see how we use him.”
Toronto right-hander Jose Berrios (9-5, 3.99 ERA) will make his 30th start of the year on Tuesday. It is the fourth straight season reaching he has reached that number in his five campaigns with the Blue Jays, who lead the AL East by five games over the New York Yankees.
During September, Berrios has two no-decisions and a 4.91 ERA in two starts.
In 15 career starts against the Rays, Berrios is 4-7 with a 4.77 ERA. He faced Tampa Bay twice in May, going 0-1 with a 6.35 ERA.
–Field Level Media
