RANGERS 6, RAYS 1: Facing a fairly anonymous quartet, Tampa Bay needs a ninth-inning rally to avoid shutout.
By MARC TOPKIN
Published May 6, 2004
ARLINGTON, Texas - The Devil Rays still aren't hitting.
And now they're running out of excuses.
A short spring training is no longer an issue. Their schedule is no longer erratic. They are not facing a steady lineup of opposing aces.
And they're still not scoring runs.
"I've got no answer for it," Rocco Baldelli said. "We've got good players, guys who hit the ball in the past and are going to hit it in the future, too. As a whole we're just not hitting. It's kind of weird."
Wednesday, they were shut down and nearly shut out 6-1 by Texas' unheralded Ryan Drese and the not-exactly-famous relief trio of Ron Mahay, Carlos Almanzar and Doug Brocail.
It was the 12th time in 26 games the Rays scored two runs or fewer and the 17th time they had four or fewer. The encouraging signs they showed over the weekend disappeared as they scored six in three games here, five on solo homers Tuesday.
"We were expecting to come out here and swing the bats," manager Lou Piniella said. "This is a pretty good-hitting ballpark to get no runs in the first game of the series and one run in the third."
Piniella is running out of options, and patience. He has tried different batting orders and different batters, but the results haven't really changed. They are the lowest-scoring team in the American League (91 runs in 26 games) by a large margin.
After Wednesday's game, which was a shutout until the ninth, he said he plans to drop Aubrey Huff, who is in a 4-for-32 funk and hitting .189, down in the order and wants to find a place for Midre Cummings, who was called up after hitting .349 in Triple A.
"I don't know what else we can do," Piniella said. "I really don't."
Their problem isn't so much getting hits as getting hits at the right time. They went 1-for-7 Wednesday with runners in scoring position and left a man there in each of the first four innings. For the season, they are hitting .226 in those situations.
A big problem has been the middle of the order: Huff, Robert Fick and Jose Cruz are hitting a combined .203 with 22 RBIs.
"We're supposed to be three big bats in the lineup and we ain't doing (anything)," Fick said. "It's pretty much our fault right now. I know I can hit, I know Aubrey can hit, I know Cruz can hit. Let's face it, we're outs right now. Or we've been outs. We've got to start picking up our slack around here."
Rookie starter Doug Waechter did a good job keeping it close, holding the Rangers, who have the best record in the majors, to four runs while pitching into the seventh.
"That's a tough lineup, a good-hitting lineup, and he kept us in the game," Piniella said. "He did a nice job. He competes out there, and with experience he's going to get better."
Two of the runs Waechter gave up came on homers, by Mark Teixeira in the second and No.9 hitter Rod Barajas on Waechter's 103rd and final pitch.
The other two were a bit more troublesome. In the fifth, a leadoff walk to No.8 hitter Laynce Nix hurt when Michael Young ripped a one-out triple. In the sixth, he hit Brad Fullmer leading off, then saw him come around to score on a single and an infield out.
"When you play a team swinging like they're swinging and doing as well as they are right now, they're going to get a lot of things going their way," Waechter said. "Any kind of mistake usually hurts you against this kind of team."
