ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ The Rays Foundation scheduled a Casino Night fundraiser Wednesday night, but the Rays players and coaches arrived late because they gambled too often on the bases.
The Arizona Diamondbacks pulled out a 3-2 extra-inning victory on Wednesday afternoon, thanks in part to a reoccurring theme revolving around the team's otherwise remarkable start: base-running blues.
Tommy Pham got picked off first in the bottom of the 12th with one out, and that may not have been the worse base running error of the game.
Arizona took full advantage in the 13th. Tampa Bay's bullpen had turned in 7 2/3 innings of scoreless relief before Wilmer Flores hit a two-out single off Chaz Roe to drive home Eduardo Escobar. Tampa Bay is now 0-4 in extra inning games.
Equally troubling, the team may be down to one catcher with Mike Zunino pulling up lame in the ninth and Michael Perez going on the IL Wednesday.
Of course, the Rays may have ended the game sooner if not for a series of miscues and wasted opportunities, including Pham's miscue and another base running error in the bottom of the ninth.
Kevin Kiermaier delivered a game-tying RBI and a base-running blunder all on the same hit in that same frame to snuff out a Tampa Bay rally against the Diamondbacks. Pinch-hitting with men on first and second, Kiermaier drove a shot into right center that scored Yandy Diaz and tied the game at 2-2.
But he took a wide turn at first and got caught in a run down. Pham who had reached third, tried to take advantage of the chaos, but catcher John Ryan Murphy tagged Pham out at the plate to send the game into extra innings.
It was just one of several scoring chances Tampa Bay blew in a bid to go 5-1 in its last six games.
Trailing by two in the bottom of the eighth, the Rays loaded the bases but managed to score only once when Diaz came home on an errant throw by Eduardo Escobar. Zunino grounded into a fielder's choice, Brandon Lowe struck out and Willy Adames lined to second.
The rally almost erased a strong effort by Arizona pitcher Robbie Ray, who grunted like a tennis player after many of his pitches and held serve for 5 2/3 innings. Ray baffled the Rays, holding them to four hits while striking out 11.
Only three Tampa Bay runners reached scoring position again Ray, and only one made it to third base. Each time, Ray negated the scoring threats with big strikeouts. He fanned Daniel Robertson and Avisail Garcia in the first after Pham in the first, and struck out Willy Adames, Nate Lowe and Guillermo Heridia after Mike Zunino and Brandon Lowe reached base in the second.
The Rays had one its best chances to break through in the sixth. With Robertson on second and Garcia on first, Zunino came to the plate with one out. But Ray struck out Zunino before giving way to reliever Andrew Chafin, who struck out Brandon Lowe to end the inning after a nine-pitch at-bat.
The Rays had hoped to get an extra effort out of starter Charlie Morton, given that he was pitching on an extra day's rest. And while Morton didn't pitch poorly with eight strikeouts, it was an effort best characterized as spotty: two runs over five innings.
Moton allowed the leadoff hitter to reach base in each of those five innings. In the first and third, he walked speedy center fielder Jarrod Dyson, and Dyson came around to score each time. He scored in the first when an errant throw by Adames pulled Yandy Diaz off the base and Adam Jones safely reached on what was ruled a fielders choice.
Dyson scored in the third on an RBI-single by Ketel Marte.
From there, Arizona relied on Ray's grunting effort and the relief work from Chafin, Yoan Lopez, Yoshihisa Hirano, T.J. McFarland, Greg Holland, Archie Bradley and Zach Godley.
