Rays 0, Orioles 3
Record: 21-12
Attendance: 15,241
Yonny Chirinos was scheduled to be the bulker in tonight's game, but was named the starter instead about an hour before game time. He pitched into the eighth inning giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk, lackluster but not bad, but not nearly good enough to beat Baltimore's Dylan Bundy, who was 0-4 going into the game with a 6.67 ERA, and who pitched into the eighth, combining with two relievers to shut the Rays out.. Chirinos's record fell to 4-1 with a 3.52 ERA.
The Rays could manage a mere three hits off Bundy, who threw his best game of the new season--unless it was yet another of the too-frequent lazy hitting the Rays fall into. In the eighth the Rays had their only opportunity after Michael Perez slashed a one-out double to left. Willy Adames followed with a swinging bunt that he beat out to first and then took second while Perez scored on a wild throw to first. But, no. Adames ran out of the base path on his way to first and was called out for interference, which took the run off the board and put Perez back on second. Instead of having one run in, a man on second, and one out, there was no run in, a man on second, and two outs. Brandon Lowe made the last out of the inning. In the dugout Manager Cash seemed to flash uncharacteristic temper when Adames approached him.
Adames shows flashes of brilliance, but there are also flashes of incompetence. He may be the best the Rays have at shortstop right now, but I'd be surprised if management wasn't looking for options. It would be a bold move, but 18-year-old Wander Franco in A ball might be worth a look.
Today's Tampa Bay Times carried a long piece by columnist John Romano about the seriousness of the attendance problem, but nowhere does he recognize the significance of the retiree problem, namely that the many retired baseball fans in the area never stopped rooting for their old hometown team in favor of their new hometown team. That's what makes our franchise different from Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and Denver. If even half the fans of the Yankees, Red, Sox, Tigers, etc. began rooting for the Rays, the attendance would show a dramatic improvement, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. But that's not going to happen. The only reasonable conclusion is that the team will be forced to relocate. This isn't a political problem, a traffic problem, or a corporate problem, it's a problem traceable to the nature of our population--and nothing's going to change that. Sadly.
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