Rays 2 Rangers 13: Ok is THIS rock bottom?
Here’s my recap: No one on this team can hit; the defense isn’t terrible but also isn’t stellar; several of the starting pitchers wouldn’t be starting pitchers here if not for a bunch of injuries; and there are maybe 2.5 reliable arms in the bullpen.
That all came together today in this “I wish they had a mercy rule” drubbing. No Rays pitcher — and there were a lot of them — escaped without giving up at least one run, with Littell (7 runs in 4 innings) and Armstrong (3 runs in 1 inning) leading the pack. We thought the Rays would experience “addition through subtraction” by DFA’ing Chris Devenski, but it turns out Devenski wasn’t the (only) problem. Guys like Armstrong and Cleavinger who had looked reasonably good earlier in the season have suddenly become ineffective.
And as for offense, well, hat tip to Jose Caballero for ensuring that this wasn’t another shut out and for giving us that oh so brief lead and sense of hope. Rays are 24th in the league for runs scored. Not a single batter is having a particularly good year (except Ben Rortvedt. Thank God for Ben Rortvedt).
I think our community member Steve Ferra said it best so I’ll let him have the last word:
what a team - we have Armstrong who pitches like a position player, and then we have positional players like Jackson and Walls who hit like pitchers
— Steve Ferra (@AbPow) July 7, 2024