There are two essential parts to winning a baseball game: scoring runs and preventing runs.
The Rays didn’t do much of either tonight. They scored 0 runs, which generally doesn’t win you many baseball games. Alex Cobb didn’t seem to be his normal self on the night, allowing 5 earned runs in 4.1 innings. He walked as many as he struck out and his deliberate deliveries allowed the Athletics to run all over the basepaths. The Rays allowed seven stolen bases, which is a club record for a single game. Joe Maddon’s post-game comments make it sound as though the issue was more with the delivery from the pitchers than Robinson Chirinos’ throws.
Pitching-wise, it’s difficult to know what to take away from this game. Afterwards Alex Cobb was taken to the hospital to have some precautionary tests done on his throwing hand. His ineffectiveness could have stemmed from some unknown discomfort. Considering that the Rays are currently running a 6-man rotation, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Cobb hit the DL in the coming days as a result of his hand injury, but for right now no one really knows how bad his injury is.
What we can say is that the offense just didn’t know what to do with Brandon McCarthy. He went 8 innings scattering 5 hits and no runs with 5 strikeouts and nary a walk to his name. The Rays offense was once again shut out at home, making that the seventh home shutout of the season. Robinson Chirinos had 2 hits, including the only multi-base hit of the game, a leadoff double in the eighth inning.
The Rays will try to "meatloaf" the Athletics tomorrow at 1:40. David Price takes on Trevor Cahill with aims at winning the series.