SAN FRANCISCO Ryan Pepiot worked a strong opening five innings on Sunday, trying to maintain the momentum the Rays had established with their first three-game winning streak in almost two months.
After getting the first two outs in the sixth inning, however, Pepiot’s game took a turn for the worse, as he promptly gave up five consecutive Giants to reach base, including four runs scored.
The Rays’ situation changed as a result.
The 7-1 defeat put a poor cap on a mediocre 6-6 performance on their 14-day, 12-game, four-city road trip. After a lengthy and uncomfortable voyage, they arrived home six games behind the third American League wild-card place, one more than when they set out on August 3. They finished the trip 61-64.
It’s awful. According to Pepiot, we didn’t gain any ground. The series was won by us. After that, we had the opportunity to go 7-5 on the road trip and sweep [Sunday]. Compared to 6-6, that sounds much better. And we failed to complete it. I didn’t finish it.
Kevin Cash, the manager, adopted a similar but less direct stance.
He said, “It’s been a long trip.” Although I’m happy that we reached.500, I believe we would all agree that we needed to improve and win more games. All set to return home.
The Rays will have a chance to make up some distance they lost when they play the Yankees, who now own the final wild-card slot, in a two-game series that begins Tuesday at Steinbrenner Field.
“We simply need to play quality baseball,” Cash stated. Against everyone, we must play good baseball. You can’t pick and choose which clubs you need to win against when you’re currently behind in the standings, as we are.
We must defeat everyone.
The chance to defeat a faltering Giants squad on Sunday vanished in an instant.
Pepiot and his Giants adversary Logan Webb were engaged in a scoreless duel over the first five innings.
During that span, Webb escaped the one little jam he got into, gave up two singles, and struck out four. Additionally, he profited from a spectacular catch made by centerfielder Jung Hoo Lee that denied Yandy Diaz a double.
Pepiot retired the first two hitters in the sixth inning, gave up two singles with 12 outs and a walk between them, and struck out eight.
Then, it appeared that he was unable to free anyone.
I am quite proud of him since he was incredibly strong. According to Cash, he was going up against Webb, who was equally powerful. Something happened in the sixth inning, in my opinion, when it wasn’t stuff but rather command, and [Pepiot] went behind batters.
When count control works in their favor, that portion of the Giants lineup has the potential to cause some harm. Additionally, it did unravel a bit more quickly than you would have liked.
Rafael Devers and Heliot Ramos singled narrowly past second baseman Brandon Lowe to start the Giants rally, and then Pepiot walked former Ray Willy Adames on four pitches to load the bases.
Pepiot stated that he was unable to get out. It was simply poorly executed. got behind others. Up until that inning, I was essentially ahead of everyone in the entire game. I couldn’t get out of it after getting two outs in the sixth.
did not allow things to accelerate. didn’t alter any procedures. couldn’t finish it.
Then the worst happened. After that, Dominic Smith singled to right at 84.5 mph, breaking the bat and scoring three runs.
He broke his bat when he attempted to throw a fastball, according to Pepiot. You think weak contact is exactly what we’re aiming for when you break a guy’s bat. They scored three runs because I was unable to execute pitches prior to it, and it just so happened to fall.
It was a bit more complicated.
Jake Mangum recovered the ball as Ramos and Devers scored. Adames made what Cash referred to as a heads-up play by breaking for home and slipping in ahead of the throw as Mangum threw toward second and shortstop Ha-Seong Kim had to turn to collect it.
The infield is where the ball is. According to Pepiot, Kim appeared to be facing the opposite way. By the time he realized what it appeared to be, it was already too late. Good throw, but it was not able to reach its destination in time.
Kim claimed that by the time he turned around, it was too late and that he was unable to hear any teammates calling for him to throw home because of the thunderous Oracle Park crowd of 38,876.
Through interpreter David Lee, Kim stated, “At first, I couldn’t see, but when I looked at third, I already saw the runner heading for home.”
On their end, the aggressive base running was excellent.
Christian Koss followed with a line drive directly at leftfielder Chandler Simpson, which resulted in a double and a 4-0 advantage, giving Pepiot yet another terrible break.
According to Cash, “I believe [Simpson] assumed he had a chance to catch it in the air and knew he wasn’t [going to] and wanted to do everything he could to keep it in front of him.” He couldn’t have made that play in the air, in my opinion. Put the brakes on, sort of.
It was 6-0 and all but gone in the seventh when reliever Mason Englert gave up consecutive home runs to Drew Gilbert and Tyler Fitzgerald.
Diaz made an effort to paint the 6-6 trip in a favorable light.
Through team interpreter Eddie Rodriguez, he stated, “We were able to win [three] series.” The boys seem to be becoming more at ease. And I believe that excellent things are on the horizon.
