Another quiet night at plate, another loss for Rays (2024)

ST. PETERSBURG — The main Tropicana Field video board was knocked out of service during batting practice Tuesday, the combination, per the Rays, of being struck by a ball hit by Houston’s Yordan Alvarez and corrupted data cards.

Just as well, as the Rays didn’t do much worthy of highlighting.

The 3-2 loss to the Astros was their eighth in the last 11 games, dropping them back under .500 at 59-60 and wasting another chance to gain ground in the American League wild-card race as they remained 5 1/2 games behind the Royals, who also lost, for the third spot.

The issue was an anemic offense. Even the addition of just called-up top prospect Junior Caminero to the lineup didn’t help, as the Rays were held to two or fewer runs for the 10th time in their last 16 games and are averaging just 3.1 per, starting July 26, the day they launched their pre-deadline trade flurry.

Overall, they managed just five hits on the night, the 13th time during that span they were in single digits. And they went without a home run for a season-high-matching third straight game.

“Grind — that is what we’re going through,” manager Kevin Cash said. “What’s standing out is we’re just not getting the production that I think we’re capable of. It’s making it challenging. It’s kind of had that effect one through nine a little bit.”

Josh Lowe, who knocked in their first run after Jose Caballero hustled a single into a double, said the quality of pitching they have been facing is a contributing factor.

“I think we’re all pretty confident in ourselves in here, and we’ll get out of it,” he said. “Just keep swinging. Keep going.”

Cash had tried moving key hitters around in the lineup, but after the trades of Randy Arozarena, Isaac Paredes and Amed Rosario, hasn’t had much success or many options.

What it may take is the kind of blowout game where just about everyone gets involved.

“It feels like we haven’t had that game here in quite some time where we’ve just opened it up and you’ve got contributions top to bottom from the lineup,” Cash said. “Even the games that we’ve won, it’s like that one big inning comes together for us. So that’s not ideal. That’s not the way you draw it up. We’re capable of more. But it would be nice if we found that game you’re talking about here soon.”

Josh Lowe agreed: “For sure, I think we’d all love to have a 15-16-run game, score a lot of runs and hopefully wake everybody up.”

Caminero, promoted from Triple A, had a solid debut, going 1-for-4, with his hit a 116.3-mph grounder that shortstop Jeremy Pena grabbed but then made a bad throw.

More impressive, Cash said, was a series of defensive plays that Caminero made at third, given some questions about his progress and prowess there.

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“That was probably the highlight of the game,” Cash said. “Really encouraging to see. He got rid of the ball quick. His clock was really good ... Cami looked good.”

The other highlight was starter Shane Baz, who worked a career-high seven innings, allowing the three runs while scattering seven hits, walking two and striking out six, throwing 65 of 97 pitches for strikes.

He was pleased how he started, as early innings have been problematic, and that he maintained the quality of his stuff into the seventh.

“I felt good,” he said. “Didn’t fall behind too much. Kind of kept my foot on the gas, just tried to attack everybody.”

Alex Bregman’s two-out double in the third led to one run, and his two-out homer in the fifth another. Pena homered in the sixth.

“I thought Shane threw the ball really, really well,” Cash said. “Unfortunately, Bregman is pretty hot right now, swinging the bat well. But Shane did everything to limit them and give our offense an opportunity. It just wasn’t happening.”

The Rays, after seeing the 1-0 second-inning lead disappear, had a chance for a big inning in the eighth.

They loaded the bases against Houston reliever Ryan Pressly on a one-out Alex Jackson single, a Yandy Diaz single and a Dylan Carlson walk. Brandon Lowe battled through 11 pitches then grounded out sharply to first, scoring Jackson. But Christopher Morel grounded out to end it.

“The big hit didn’t come,” Cash said.

Again.

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