Benches clear, Uceta tossed after Rays' rare 'pen meltdown

PHILADELPHIA -- Since establishing himself as one of the top high-leverage relievers in a remade Rays bullpen, Edwin Uceta has always appeared cool, calm and in control of both his pitches and his emotions.

But a frustrating eighth inning unraveled in a big way in the Rays’ 9-4 loss to the Phillies on Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park. After entering a tie game with one out and two runners on base, Uceta allowed Philadelphia to put up five runs, then got ejected after plunking Nick Castellanos in the left hip with a 96.2 mph sinker -- tied for his sixth-hardest pitch of the season.

“It looked like he hasn't been out in that situation. Good kid. Probably lost his composure a little bit,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Ideally, that doesn't happen [and] we get through the inning. The game had gotten out of hand, they had done the damage and we move on -- just get off the field.”

Uceta claimed he did not hit Castellanos on purpose and said at one point -- through interpreter Manny Navarro -- that it was “a changeup that kind of got away.”

But the Phillies clearly sensed Uceta’s emotion from the way the inning had unfolded to that point, and Castellanos said he felt an “overwhelming sense that I was about to get drilled” when he stepped into the batter’s box.

“I mean, you're throwing a baseball over 90 mph. You're frustrated and you're going to throw at somebody?” Castellanos said. “That's like my 2-year-old throwing a fit because I take away his dessert before he's finished."

Castellanos was immediately and obviously upset, and Bryce Harper also shouted at Uceta as he walked toward the mound from second base before Rays shortstop José Caballero intervened.

“Just trying to catch Bryce at the moment, trying to avoid a mess,” Caballero said. “It was already a mess. I didn't want it to get worse.”

Both benches and bullpens emptied, with plenty of words exchanged but no real fighting, and Uceta was ejected.

“Understand their perspective, that they're not happy. I can't fault them for that. But I'm glad that cooler heads prevailed,” Cash said. “They did a good job of defending their teammate. And ideally, it was more words than anything. That's kind of the best-case scenario when that happens.”

Shortly after the game, Cash said the Rays would have conversations about the situation with Uceta and “a bunch of young guys.”

“There was a lot going on, so I was just keeping my eye on Castellanos,” Uceta said through Navarro. “Again, I didn’t do it on purpose, but I understand the frustration they had. I’ve never been a part of a situation like that before.”

The defeat dropped the Rays to 71-74 on the year, and they are six games out of the final American League Wild Card spot with 17 to play. This one was a flip of the script for the Rays, who have been done in too often lately by good pitching getting wasted by a lack of offense.

Considering the way the eighth inning played out, it made sense that Uceta might have been upset.

The game was tied at 4 after the Rays racked up 12 hits against Phillies left-hander Ranger Suárez while Tampa Bay starter Taj Bradley gave up two homers but otherwise limited the damage over his six innings of work. Riding an incredible hot streak, Tampa Bay’s bullpen -- which began the night with the Majors’ best ERA since the All-Star break -- blinked first.

After finishing the seventh inning, left-hander Richard Lovelady gave up a walk and a double with one out in the eighth before exiting in favor of Uceta. The right-hander has been among the game’s best relievers this season, entering the night with a 0.75 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 36 innings. Uceta was also coming off an impressive five-out save in Baltimore on Sunday.

But he got knocked around Tuesday before getting himself knocked out.

“We’re not all going to have a good game. They were hitting the pitches,” Uceta said. “I was trying to locate that changeup, but can’t control what was going on over there.”

Within his first 20 pitches, Uceta allowed a go-ahead two-run double to pinch-hitter Cal Stevenson, an RBI single to Buddy Kennedy, a two-run homer to Trea Turner and a double to Harper. Then came Castellanos -- and the frustrating end to a frustrating night for Uceta.

“He has been on a really good run. He hasn't pitched in too many of these situations. This is a different animal coming into this ballpark, for sure,” Cash said. “But I saw a bunch of good hitters go up there and have big at-bats.”