ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Four batters into Monday night’s series opener against division bottom-feeder Baltimore, the Rays found themselves down two runs.
Three innings later, they were down a catcher, too.
The hosts (55-39) failed to respond to the initial adversity, falling 6-1 to the Orioles (31-62) before a Tropicana Field audience of 9,922. How well they respond to the absence of all-star Mike Zunino, pulled after three innings due to left hip flexor tightness, remains anyone’s guess.
One of the Rays’ three All-Stars, Zunino’s 19 home runs lead all big-league catchers (while playing the position). Seven of those had come in his previous 19 games.
His short-term prognosis wasn’t immediately known. Nor was that of designated hitter Yandy Diaz, who exited with neck spasms.
When Zunino was replaced Monday by Francisco Mejia, right-handed starter Ryan Yarbrough had found a temporary groove. Albeit after a fluky, frustrating outset.
Yarbrough’s 32-pitch first inning featured a sharp Austin Hays leadoff grounder to third base that Joey Wendle couldn’t snag, followed by consecutive bloop singles by Trey Mancini and Ryan Mountcastle (the latter of which drove in a run). Anthony Santander’s sacrifice fly to center drove in Mancini, pushing Baltimore’s lead to 2-0.
Yarbrough needed only 12 pitches to make it through the second, which ended with consecutive strikeouts, and needed only six pitches to get through the fourth. In the sixth, however, he walked Santander after a 12-pitch at-bat to lead off the inning, then issued a single to shortstop Ramon Urias.
That set up No. 8 batter Pat Valaika’s two-out, two-run single, followed by No. 9 batter Kelvin Gutierrez’s run-scoring hit that finally chased Yarbrough after 108 pitches. Hays followed with a ground-rule double off Matt Wisler, pushing the Orioles lead to 6-0.
Meantime, the Rays could muster nothing substantial off 29-year-old rookie right-hander Spenser Watkins, who was coaching a freshman high school team in Arizona when the Orioles signed him in February. In his third career start, Watkins allowed one run on four hits, the last one a Randy Arozarena sixth-inning RBI double.
