ST. PETERSBURG — Manager Kevin Cash’s decision to decline a run on a catcher’s interference call backfired when the Tampa Bay Rays hit into an inning-ending double play, squandering their best scoring chance in a loss to the Texas Rangers at Tropicana Field.
The sequence unfolded in the fourth inning. Jonathan Aranda singled and Junior Caminero doubled against Rangers starter Cal Quantrill, who had retired the first 10 batters he faced. Cedric Mullins then reached on catcher’s interference when his bat struck catcher Austin Wynns’ glove. Under Rule 6.01(c), Cash had the option to take the run that would have scored on the play along with the out, leaving runners on second and third with two outs and a 2-1 deficit. He chose instead to load the bases with one out for Chandler Simpson.
“I really felt good about the bases loaded, one out, down by two with Chandler at the plate,” Cash said. Simpson entered the night batting .405 for the month and .382 over his last 30 games — the player in the lineup most likely to put the ball in play, with speed that typically prevents double plays.
But Simpson hit a hard grounder back to the mound. Quantrill gloved it and started a 1-2-3 double play in roughly four seconds, despite Simpson reaching an elite sprint speed of 30 feet per second according to Statcast. “I just hit it up the middle, and his glove stopped it,” Simpson said. “I hit it kind of hard, so they were able to turn a double play.”
Cash credited Quantrill’s athleticism. “Quantrill, to his credit, made a nice play off the mound. He pitched a great ballgame for them and then made the biggest play, stabbing that,” Cash said. “I don’t know if that ball gets up the middle, but I know if it gets past the pitcher, it’s really tough to turn two.”
The Rays managed one run in the sixth when Yandy Díaz walked and scored on just the second triple of Junior Caminero’s young career, but never mounted another serious threat. Texas built its 2-0 lead on fielding miscues by Griffin Jax and shortstop Taylor Walls. Jax rushed a throw on Evan Carter’s slow chopper in the second, and a pickoff throw to Walls skipped into center field, putting Carter in position to score on a sacrifice fly. Ezequiel Duran added a sacrifice fly in the third.
“I’ve got to come up clean with that, especially with less than two outs,” Walls said. “He can’t get to third in that situation. I thought [Jax] executed that well.” Jax countered: “I need to get that throw a little bit higher. He’ll probably tell you that he needs to make that play. It’s just one of those that didn’t go our way.”
Despite the loss, Jax matched his career-high mark with 10 strikeouts and racked up 19 swinging strikes over 5 2/3 innings. “Stuff was really good tonight,” Jax said. “As long as I was staying on top of them and staying aggressive in the zone early and forcing them back in the zone, I think that’s why my stuff was playing the way it was.”
The stakes only rise from here for the AL East-leading Rays, who host the AL Central-leading White Sox next at Tropicana Field with Monday’s Trade Deadline approaching. “I think we’re all playing for a lot right now, certainly on this homestand,” Cash said.