Rays Drop Fifth-Straight Road Game in 7-2 Loss to Reds

For a while on Friday night, things were going pretty well for the Tampa Bay Rays in their 7-2 series-opening loss against the Cincinnati Reds.

The Rays enjoyed a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning after shortstop Taylor Walls drove in left fielder Christopher Morel with an RBI double, and starting right-hander Zack Littell was aggressively filling up the strike zone after surrendering a second-inning home run to Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson.

Then, disaster struck.

The Reds scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth to regain the lead and make it 3-2 after Littell and the defense loaded the bases. Tampa Bay almost got out of the jam on a double play attempt, but Cincinnati's right fielder Will Benson beat out the throw by shortstop Taylor Walls and got a run across. Third Baseman Noelvi Marte added insult to injury with an RBI single before the Rays' defense could get off the field.

TJ Friedl’s two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth made it 5-2 Cincinnati, and Littell exited soon after. In six innings of work, Littell allowed 10 hits, which matches a season high (5/31 against Houston).

“He left a couple pitches up in the zone,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said after the loss. “The big homer came from Friedl’s bat. I still thought that Lit competed really, really well, just left that one pitch that opened them up a little bit.”

The night went from bad to worse when Tampa Bay southpaw reliever Ian Seymour took over for Littell and allowed 2 earned runs and three hits in one inning of work, putting the game out of reach for the Rays.

The biggest obstacle for Tampa Bay was trying to figure out a way to slow down All-Star shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who hit safely in four of his five plate appearances.

“Elly, we see how talented he is, hitting balls in the outfield gap,” Cash said.

“He put it all on display today,” Rays center fielder Chandler Simpson added. “It was amazing to see from a speed guy to another speed guy.”

According to a recent players' poll, Simpson is regarded as the fastest player in the league by a wide margin (40 votes). Meanwhile, De La Cruz received 17 votes. In Friday’s game, Simpson stole his 32nd base, putting him in third place behind Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz (34) and Simpson’s teammate, shortstop José Caballero (33).

“They just kind of out-baseball’d us today, and we didn’t really have the big hit like they did,” Simpson added. “So it just comes down to that.”

The loss extends the Rays’ road losing streak to five games. At 53-51, the Rays will look to even the series against Cincinnati on Saturday at 6:40 p.m. when right-hander Ryan Pepiot (6-8, 3.59 ERA) faces Reds All-Star lefty Andrew Abbott (8-1, 2.13 ERA).