TAMPA -- Christopher Morel swung and missed on a 96.7 mph fastball from Angels reliever Brock Burke, slammed his bat over home plate and shouted. Before he could even take a step toward the Rays¡¯ dugout, home-plate umpire Rob Drake signaled that he had been ejected.
For many reasons, it was a pivotal moment in the Rays¡¯ 4-3 loss to the Angels on Tuesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field. And it was a particularly frustrating one as Tampa Bay¡¯s losing streak reached five games.
¡°It can't happen,¡± manager Kevin Cash said. ¡°It can¡¯t happen.¡±
¡°After what happened, I thought about it,¡± Morel said through interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. ¡°And I was like, 'Well, I shouldn't have done that.'¡±
First and foremost, it came during a remarkably futile stretch of scoring opportunities for the Rays.
After taking their first lead in a week by putting up three runs on four consecutive hits with nobody out in the seventh -- a Junior Caminero homer, a Jonathan Aranda single, a Morel double and a Kameron Misner triple -- the Rays didn¡¯t capitalize on the opportunity any further.
Then the same opportunity presented itself in the eighth, as Mike Trout lost track of a Jos¨¦ Caballero fly ball that turned out to be a triple. Pinch-hitter Curtis Mead struck out, bringing up Morel with the game now tied.
Morel took three balls to get ahead in the count then leaned back on the next pitch, a called strike over the middle of the plate. Morel watched a fifth straight pitch, a fastball that appeared to be outside the strike zone, and shouted toward Drake after it was called a strike. Morel swung through the next pitch before bashing his bat and getting tossed.
¡°I've been battling since the first inning, and the pitches, they were not in the zone. And I had that in my head,¡± Morel said through Rodriguez. ¡°I was just trying to help the team, and I was trying to put the ball in play, and I should have done a little bit better. ¡ After I thought [about] what I did, it was surprising for me too, because that's not who I am. That's not part of my character.¡±
It had been an eventful enough night for Morel before that.
In the second inning, he tracked a Kyren Paris fly ball back to the left-field wall and timed his jump well, but it landed in a fan¡¯s glove before he could try to rob the home run. The Rays challenged, looking for fan interference, but the call was upheld and the Angels took a 2-0 lead.
Morel said he ¡°100 percent¡± would have caught it.
¡°I felt the glove, like his glove went in my glove, too,¡± Morel said.
In the fourth inning, Morel lost a Travis d¡¯Arnaud pop-up in the clouds before it dropped for a single. Shane Baz worked his way out of the situation during his seven-inning outing. In the seventh, Morel marched out of the batter¡¯s box, broke into a trot and heaved his bat in celebration on what turned out to be an RBI double off the wall.
¡°The next time, I know I need to start and run right away,¡± he said.
After Morel was ejected, Misner was hit on the face guard of his helmet by a 98.8 mph fastball -- he remained in the game, and Cash said afterward that Misner ¡°seems to be OK¡± -- then Danny Jansen flied out to strand Caballero.
The context of Morel¡¯s ejection is also key. Caballero came off the bench to replace Caminero at third base when the Rays briefly held a lead in the top of the eighth, and Mead pinch-hit for Aranda. That left two reserves, neither an outfielder, to replace Morel: backup catcher Ben Rortvedt and just-recalled infielder Coco Montes.
The Rays moved Caballero to left and brought in Montes to take Morel¡¯s spot in the lineup and play third base. Naturally, the ball found him in a tough spot. With one out and catcher Logan O¡¯Hoppe on first, Taylor Ward hit a grounder to third.
Montes bobbled what would have been the inning-ending double-play ball, and by the time he picked it up, he could only get the out at first. That proved costly. The Angels replaced O¡¯Hoppe with pinch-runner Kevin Newman, who scored the winning run from second on Luis Rengifo¡¯s soft single to center off Pete Fairbanks.
The Rays had another chance in the ninth, getting runners to second and third with nobody out, but once again couldn¡¯t come through against closer Kenley Jansen as they finished 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
¡°Give them credit. They moved the ball. We did not,¡± Cash said. ¡°And that was the outcome of the game.¡±