Rays' offense continues to confound with shutout loss to Yankees

TAMPA -- Frustrating and puzzling.

Rays manager Kevin Cash said those are fair words to describe the inconsistency of his team’s offense this past week.

The Rays put up 16 runs -- including a nine-run inning -- against the Red Sox on Monday. That was followed by a four-game losing streak with a total of seven runs scored and a couple of shutouts. Then came Saturday’s 10-run outburst and a thrilling comeback against the Yankees

But the end of the weekend and the franchise’s longest homestand (13 games) since 2005 featured another low point: only two hits in a 4-0 defeat to the Yanks.

It marked the first time the Rays had been shut out three times in a five-game span since Aug. 8-12, 2017.

“Everybody is kind of racking their brains on the days that we're not hitting,” Cash said. “Is there something that we can be doing better? … I'd like to think that we're better than a team that doesn't consistently find ways to manufacture runs.”

There was really nothing to be done on Sunday as Max Fried carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. Well, the no-hitter actually lasted until the eighth inning, when the official scorer changed a sixth-inning error by Paul Goldschmidt to an infield single for speedy rookie Chandler Simpson.

But the point stands: Tampa Bay’s inconsistent bats just ran into a pitcher at the top of his game.

“He's been pitching really well, as good as anybody in the game,” Cash said of Fried. “Unfortunately, we kind of caught the wrath of it today with the way he mixed, the way he spun the ball."

"He made it uncomfortable for everybody, one through nine,” said Simpson, who picked up his second career hit and first stolen base in his second big league game.

On the other end of the pitching matchup, Rays right-hander Ryan Pepiot turned in a quality start -- his first since March 28 -- as he allowed three runs and struck out seven over six innings.

However, Pepiot continued to struggle with the home run as he surrendered a leadoff blast to Trent Grisham and a solo shot to Cody Bellinger in the sixth. He has now permitted eight homers in 28 innings this season after allowing 17 across 130 innings last year, his first with the Rays.

Even more alarming, both of those home runs came off Pepiot’s four-seam fastball, his bread-and-butter offering. Last year, Pepiot’s mid-90s heater limited batters to a .181 average and a .330 slugging percentage. That pitch is still displaying good velocity and shape, but after Sunday’s outing, hitters have a .385 average, an .821 slugging percentage and four homers in 39 at-bats against it.

To Pepiot, the main issue could be seen in that first plate appearance of the day against Grisham. Pepiot missed with a cutter and a four-seamer to start the at-bat, putting him in a 2-0 hole.

The next pitch was a 94 mph fastball over the middle of the plate that Grisham walloped.

“I think the tell is out that I throw a lot of fastballs,” Pepiot said. “If I'm behind in the count and I don’t get it to the top of the zone, It's not going to be as effective.”

Sunday’s loss closed the Rays’ homestand. Their schedule is front-loaded with home games to limit the number of games played in their outdoor home ballpark during the muggy and often rainy summer months. Tampa Bay went just 5-8 on the homestand and is 9-13 -- its worst 22-game start to a season since 2018 -- despite playing all but three games thus far in Tampa.

“It’s disappointing,” Pepiot said. “You want to always like home-field advantage, and [we] definitely didn't take advantage of it.”

The Rays will get on a flight Monday afternoon headed west to start a six-game trip through Arizona and San Diego. Cash hopes the change of scenery does his team some good.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to play better baseball,” Cash said. “Thirteen games here at home … we were not consistent in really any aspect of our game, and we’ve got to turn it around.”