TAMPA -- As Mike Trout rounded the bases in the fifth inning Thursday afternoon, Zack Littell raised his left hand, called for a new baseball and snatched it with a quick downward swipe of his glove. The right-hander had just given up five straight hits, including three homers, in an inning the Rays would like to forget as soon as possible.
Tampa Bay gave up four homers in an eight-run fifth, the low point of an 11-1 loss at George M. Steinbrenner Field that the Angels dominated from start to finish. Littell allowed seven runs and a career-high four homers, and a trio of Angels -- Trout, Taylor Ward and Jo Adell -- each went deep twice in the series finale.
It was the fifth time in franchise history that the Rays allowed four home runs in one inning, with the most recent instance coming against the White Sox in the seventh inning on Aug. 27, 2007. The eight-run frame was the worst for Tampa Bay since a nine-run ninth in a 20-1 loss to Toronto on May 23, 2023.
¡°I think you've definitely got to give credit to [the Angels]. They swung the bat well,¡± manager Kevin Cash said. ¡°I'd like to think, with our pitching and our track record, that we'll find ways to adjust, get back into doing what we do well -- and that's generally preventing runs. This past series, we didn't do it.¡±
Here are three more takeaways from Thursday¡¯s series finale and the series loss.
This is what we expected at Steinbrenner Field
During their season-opening homestand, with the wind mostly blowing in, the Rays hit three home runs and surrendered only two. Hey, wasn¡¯t this place -- with the dimensions of Yankee Stadium -- supposed to be a hitters' haven?
That question was answered in this series.
The teams combined for 14 home runs, including 10 sent out to right or right-center field. The Rays were outhomered by eight (11-3), with the 11 allowed by Tampa Bay tying a franchise record in a three-game series set from June 7-9, 2005, in Cincinnati.
Cash said it seemed like the Angels didn¡¯t miss anything over the middle of the plate, indicative of a hot lineup with a good approach. Littell cited poor execution and location, especially over the outer half of the plate against right-handed hitters, as his biggest issue on Thursday.
¡°I guess it's kind of playing with fire, but you¡¯ve got to pitch to both sides of the plate, kind of make people feel uncomfortable,¡± catcher Ben Rortvedt said.
This is how they expected their temporary home ballpark to play, and they saw the potential benefits for their lineup in Wednesday¡¯s victory. Now, they must learn to live (and pitch) with it.
¡°I don't think we're going to be able to use that as an excuse,¡± Littell said. ¡°Our goal is to keep them off the barrel. And [if you] keep them off the barrel, it doesn't matter if you play in a Little League stadium; you're not going to hit home runs.¡±
Scoring runs is still a struggle
The Rays are averaging 3.58 runs per game to start the season, and they¡¯ve only scored 20 while losing six of their last seven games.
They had no chance of hitting their way back into the series finale, as Jos¨¦ Soriano held them to one run over 7 2/3 innings. Overall, their lineup had nearly as many double-play grounders (four) as hits (six).
¡°Tough for us to get into a rhythm. I know that we can put some more traffic on the bases, put some more pressure on him, but he made big pitches,¡± Cash said. ¡°We knew coming in he's pretty talented, and he showed it well.¡±
Time to turn it around
In the middle of the season, a 5-7 stretch might not stand out. Even a 1-6 skid like this might get lost in the shuffle. But a schedule front-loaded with home games increased the emphasis on the Rays getting off to a hot start, because they¡¯ll spend so much of the summer on the road. And as Littell said after the game, they are ¡°definitely not anywhere close to our best¡± yet.
With the Braves, Red Sox and Yankees on deck to finish this 13-game homestand, followed by a trip to Arizona and San Diego, the Rays can¡¯t afford to let this frustrating skid turn into anything more significant.
¡°Everybody wants to get out of Spring Training [and] get out to a good start, but it doesn't feel like we're doing that right in this moment,¡± Cash said. ¡°But a series or two can change that, and I think that's the way we've got to continue to look at it.
¡°We can't hope for it. We've got to do it, but trust that these guys can do that.¡±