Orioles Lose Biggest Series of Season vs. Rays (8/14/22)

The Orioles narrowly avoided a perfect game Sunday afternoon.

The Orioles lost the biggest series of their season against the Tampa Bay Rays.  The O’s offense was even worse than yesterday while shrugging off history.  As the final regular season contest between these teams, the Rays clinched the season series 10-9, meaning they hold the potential tiebreaker over Baltimore.

The Orioles starting lineup:

C. Mullins CF, 2. A. Rutschman C, 3. A. Santander DH, 4. R. Urias 3B, 5. R. Odor 2B, 6. A. Hays LF, 7. J. Mateo SS, 8. T. Nevin 1B, 9. B. Phillips RF

The starter for the O’s was Jordan Lyles (9-8, 4.17 ERA)

The Rays starting lineup:

J. Choi 1B, 2. Y. Diaz 3B, 3. R. Arozarena DH, 4. Peralta LF, 5. Mejia C, 6. Y. Chang 2B, 7. Raley RF, 8. J. Siri CF, 9. T. Walls SS

The starter for the Rays was Drew Rasmussen (6-4, 2.72 ERA)

The game was a pitcher’s duel until the 3rd inning when Randy Arozarena hit a 3-run 402-foot home run (15) to give the Rays a 3-0 lead.  The Oriole Killer came through again.

Joey Krehbiel (2.45 ERA) relieved Lyles during the 5th.  Lyles set a season-high with nine strikeouts.

In the 5th, David Peralta hit a single to score Taylor Walls to give the Rays a 4-0 lead.

Keegan Akin (2.71 ERA) relieved Krehbiel in the 6th.

Logan Gillaspie (4.35 ERA) relieves Akin in the 8th.  Overall, the bullpen pitched exceptionally well on a day when it did not matter.

Rasmussen was throwing a perfect game into the 9th before Jorge Mateo hit a double to break it.

Jorge Mateo scored on a wild pitch to break the shutout, 4-1 Rays.

Jason Adam (1.21 ERA) relieved Drew Rasmussen in the 9th after Brett Phillips reached on a dropped third strike.  Rasmussen threw only 87 pitches in his outstanding performance.

The Orioles travel to Canada to face the Toronto Blue Jays in a 3-game series starting tomorrow Monday, August 15th at 7:07 PM EST.  Hopefully they can muster a hit before the 9th inning.