PITTSBURGH — The Rays had things to be thankful for despite their three-game winning streak ending with a 4-3 loss to the Pirates on a sweltering Saturday.
Most importantly, neither of their two players forced from the game after being hit by pitches — Amed Rosario on the side of the face by a glancing blow and Brandon Lowe on the right pinkie toe — were severely injured or expected to miss much time.
From a team sense, starter Zach Eflin battled through the intense heat — 95 degrees at first pitch — to work seven innings on a day when the bullpen again was shorthanded. He allowed four runs, not all of which were his fault, and retired his last 14 batters.
And they rallied in the ninth inning, scoring once and getting the tying run to second base against old nemesis Aroldis Chapman with top RBI man Isaac Paredes up before the final out dropped them to 37-40.
But there also was this reality:
For all the good they did in scoring 20 runs and rapping 36 hits over their previous three games, the Rays were held to two runs and three hits over seven innings Saturday by Pittsburgh starter Jared Jones.
And Sunday, they will face the better and more powerful of the Pirates’ 22-year-old rookies in Paul Skenes. He is 4-0 with a 2.29 ERA in seven games, striking out 53 batters in 39-1/3 innings. He has thrown 65 pitches of at least 100 mph, nearly double any other starter in the majors.
“(Jones) is good. He’s really good,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “They’ve got some good pitching over there highlighted by him and certainly the guy (Sunday). But I was really impressed with what Jones did. Mixed his pitches well. He commanded the ball extremely well. A lot of first-pitch strikes, seemed like. That’s why he kept us quiet, because he was so good.”
Brandon Lowe said there isn’t much the Rays can do but try to carry over what good at-bats they had.
“The guy throws 100. He’s got 100 in the tank, good carry, good off-speed. It’s one of those things that if you get to him, you get to him. But he was really good. And each guy that came in after him was also really good,” Lowe said. “So, take the loss from (Saturday), move on, show up (Sunday) and face a good pitcher in Skenes.”
The Rays got a run in the first — they have scored first in the first eight games of the road trip — without a hit. Brandon Lowe was hit by a pitch, went to second on a walk, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Josh Lowe’s ground out.
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Explore all your optionsThere was a big scare next as Rosario was hit, Jones’ 99.6 mph pitch striking Rosario’s left shoulder and then the face flap on his batting helmet, causing a cut near his lip that needed two stitches but no other damage.
The Pirates tied the score quickly, and loudly, when Oneil Cruz blasted Eflin’s two-out, first-pitch curve 445 feet over the rightfield stands into the Allegheny River, just the sixth ball to reach the water on a fly in PNC Park’s 24-year history.
The Pirates then took advantage of some mistakes to score three in the third, which proved to be enough.
With one out, Josh Lowe had trouble reading Andrew McCutchen’s drive to right as well as the distance to the wall, and misplayed the ball into a triple.
“The ball kind of took off a little bit,” Lowe said. “I really didn’t even realize that I took that kind of route to it until I went back and watched it (on video). I thought I broke back well on the ball, and in reality I had probably a half-step more (before needing to jump at the wall). It still hit off my glove. I should have caught it.”
The Pirates quickly took advantage. Red-hot Bryan Reynolds lined a ball over the drawn-in infield to score one run, and the combination of a rare walk off Eflin, a single and a grounder the Rays couldn’t get a double play on made it 4-1.
“I felt great,” Eflin said. “Felt like, for the most part, the command was there. Ben (Rortvedt) called a great game. We were in sync the entire time. Just got to find a way to limit the big innings. It cost us (Saturday), so it kind of sucks.”
As for the specifics of the third? “I couldn’t really tell you,” Eflin said. “They got on and scored. I’ll leave it at that.”
The Rays got a run in the fourth off Jones, and another off Chapman in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough.
“I love being efficient, and I was able to get seven in and give the bullpen a little rest,” Eflin said. “Just sucks that we lost.”
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