By John Romano
The Tampa Bay Times
TAMPA In many respects, it was the ideal baseball fan night.
Beautiful sunset. stadium that was packed. A future Hall of Famer’s outstanding performance on the mound, another future Hall of Famer’s spectacular home run at the plate, and two singles from the biggest celebrity in the sport.
The sole item lacking?
The Rays.
The Rays did not put up much of a fight against the Dodgers Friday night at Steinbrenner Field in their first game since the trade deadline. Los Angeles jumped out to an early lead and easily won 5-0 in front of a 10,046-person sellout crowd.
Clayton Kershaw, a left-hander, recorded his first victory since June 26 after throwing six shutout innings. In July, Kershaw had a 4.71 ERA and was 0-2.
From the moment Kershaw took the mound, he had the advantage of operating with a lead. After Shohei Ohtani took a one-out walk in the top of the first, Will Smith and Freddie Freeman doubled back-to-back to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.
Ohtani hit two singles in his next two at-bats on Friday night, when the Rays were selling a ticket special for a Japanese heritage hat. With his 355th career home run to start the fifth inning, Freeman had his own celebration.
The night seemed like a never-ending battle for Rays starter Shane Baz. In his five innings of work, he gave up five runs and ten runners, losing for the sixth time in a row. His eight strikeouts were the only bright point.
Kershaw, 37, was under some pressure from Tampa Bay hitters, but they were unable to produce a crucial hit in the early going. In the second, third, and sixth innings, the Rays put runners in scoring position but got nothing in return. With runners in scoring position, they finished the evening 1 for 7.
After a difficult series against the Yankees, the Rays bullpen was impressive if you were looking for a bright spot. Ian Seymour, a left-handed rookie, threw two scoreless innings, continuing his strong performance since being transferred to relief. In his first 12 innings in the major leagues, Seymour has 13 strikeouts and a 1.43 ERA.
Mason Montgomery, Garrett Cleavinger, and Seymour pitched four scoreless innings with seven strikeouts for the Rays.
