ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As days go, Ryan Yarbrough will be hard-pressed to top Monday, when he received his American League championship ring and he and expectant wife Nicole learned the gender (a girl) of their first child.
His attempt to deliver a sequel to such euphoria Tuesday night was short-lived.
After a partially promising start, the struggling left-hander watched the Rangers exploit him for four runs on five hits in the top of the fourth en route to an 8-3 Rays loss before a Tropicana Field audience of 4,753. The Rays (5-6) now have blown a lead in five of their six defeats.
Yarbrough (0-2) is winless in his last 20 starts dating to Aug. 17, 2019. His nine-game losing streak as a starter is the club’s longest since Jason Hammel lost 10 in a row from April 2006 to August 2007.
But for a brief juncture, it appeared his blissful Monday might seep into Tuesday.
Yarbrough opened things by issuing a single to struggling leadoff batter Isiah Kiner-Falefa, then was charged with a balk. A one-out Joey Gallo base hit scored Kiner-Falefa, and Jose Trevino followed with a single. Yarbrough then escaped the jam by forcing former Ray Nate Lowe into a fielder’s-choice grounder and striking out Adolis Garcia with a change-up.
He would re-take the mound with a 2-1 lead. Joey Wendle’s one-out double scored Randy Arozarena to tie the score in the bottom of the first, and Wendle scored on Yandy Diaz’s infield single that got under the glove of second baseman Nick Solak, who was charged with an error.
Yarbrough then got through the second on eight pitches, ending it with a strikeout to No. 9 batter Charlie Culberson. Stifling Texas’ lineup with an assortment of cutters and curveballs, he retired seven Rangers in a row before Texas — scoreless in its last 22 innings entering Tuesday’s contest — sent eight batters to the plate in the fourth.
Trevino, Lowe and Garcia all singled before Solak cleared the bases with a double. Culberson’s one-out single would score Solak, giving the guests (4-7) a 5-2 lead.
Yarbrough worked two more mostly uneventful innings before exiting. His final line: 10 hits and six runs (all earned) in six innings, with six strikeouts, a walk and balk.
