This is getting old….fast. The Rays lost yet again Thursday, riding a punchless offense to a 5-1 defeat. For the second day in the row, BJ Upton and Sam Fuld were the two bright spots on offense, as Upton collected two more hits and Sam Fuld reached base twice and stole three bases on the day. Outside of that, the rest of the Rays offense went 3-25 (.120) and only collected one extra base hit.
The Rays have yet to hold a lead this season, but they came darn close in the top of the first inning. Sam Fuld led off with a single, and then promptly stole both second and third base against Edwin Jackson and A.J. Pierzynski. Fuld never scored, though, as the Rays couldn’t get him in: Johnny Damon and Ben Zobrist struck out, and then Dan Johnson flied out to center.
David Price kept the Rays in the game, only allowing three runs over his six innings of work, but he looked far from dominate out there. He allowed a total of nine hits while hitting two batter, and he only struck out two batters over the entire night. He was throwing the ball hard, but the White Sox were on it; Price only generated a total of nine swinging strikes. The results may not have been atrocious, but Price certainly didn’t look his best.
The Rays will face the White Sox again Friday at 8:10 PM, as James Shields will try and get the Rays their first win against John Danks. Even if the Rays don’t win, at this point I’d settle for some hard hit balls and good at bats – anything would be better than this.