By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer
Saturday, April 2, 2011
ST. PETERSBURG — By comparison, Friday's opening night loss was a relative festival.
Saturday, the Rays were no-hit into the seventh inning. They lost star third baseman Evan Longoria with what was described as a sore left oblique. They wasted a tremendous start by James Shields. They were done in by one of their inexperienced relievers. Their ninth-inning rally was cut short by a spectacular leaping catch by rightfielder Nick Markakis at the wall.
And, naturally, they lost again, this time 3-1 to the Orioles.
The Rays were held hitless for six innings by Orioles starter Chris Tillman, the 22-year-old right-hander in his 24th big-league start, until he was removed by manager Buck Showalter with a pitch count of 101. And then two batters into the seventh by reliever Jeremy Accardo, before B.J. Upton singled.
The string of zeroes were uncomfortable, but certainly not unfamiliar, as the Rays were no hit twice last season (by Oakland's Dallas Braden and Arizona's Edwin Jackson) and once the year before (Chicago's Mark Buehrle), in addition to several near-misses along the way.
Longoria looked a little awkward throwing to second on Vlad Guerrero's double-play grounder in the top of the fourth, and then took what looked almost like a half-swing during his at-bat in the bottom of the inning, a soft line out to center.
Oblique injuries, increasingly common in baseball, can sideline a player for four-six weeks depending on the severity of the strain.
Shields, seeking to bounce back from his career worst season, delivered a gem of a start, limiting the O's to just three singles and a walk over the first seven innings and getting out of whatever trouble he got into.
But when he allowed a single to the first batter of the eighth and a walk to the third on his 102nd pitch, manager Joe Maddon decided he was done.
But the next decision Maddon made, with switch-hitter Brian Roberts up next, was worse. He passed over right-hander Kyle Farnsworth, against whom Roberts was 1-for-7 with five strikeouts, in favor of rookie lefty Jake McGee, and Roberts knocked the third pitch into the leftfield seats.
McGee, 24, has tremendous potential as a late-inning reliever, but the Rays said all spring they were leery of giving him too much too soon.
The Rays had a chance to score in the seventh after Upton broke up the no-hitter as he sto le second and tried to score on Kelly Shoppach's two-out single off right-hander Jeremy Accardo, but Felix Pie nailed Upton at the plate, despite his efforts to knock over catcher Matt Wieters.
They finally broke through in the eighth as Manny Ramirez, with his first hit as a Ray, singled in Elliot Johnson, who walked to start the inning against O's left Mike Gonzalez.
After a series of substitutions left them with a patchwork defense of Johnny Damon playing first base and Dan Johnson third in the top of the ninth, they rallied one last time at the end.
An Upton single, good hustle by Matt Joyce to avoid a double play and a Kelly Shoppach walk left them with two on and one out in the ninth. After Elliot Johnson took a third strike, Ben Zobrist laced a ball deep to right but Markakis made a running, leaping catch to end the game.
Tillman, 22, has had no-hit stuff. He threw a nine-inning no-hitter for Triple-A Norfolk last year against Atlanta's Gwinnett team.
Marc Topkin can be reached at topkin@sptimes.com.