ST. PETERSBURG — Left-hander Ian Seymour struck out 10 batters without issuing a walk and generated a career-high 19 swinging strikes, but the Tampa Bay Rays could not overcome a bases-loaded squander and fell 3-2 to the New York Mets at Tropicana Field, snapping a four-game winning streak.
Seymour, who led all Major League pitchers with 48 strikeouts in August and posted a 12-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio — the fourth best in franchise history across any month among pitchers with at least 30 innings — worked into the seventh inning on 88 pitches, 65 of them strikes. He has taken the loss in each of his past three outings after pitching 17 innings during that stretch while receiving only two runs of support.
“I always believe in these guys, no matter what the score is, really. They just don’t quit,” Seymour said. “We fight to the end. That’s just sort of who we are as a team … and I’m confident we’ll probably pull that one off another time.”
Manager Kevin Cash said Seymour’s lack of run support has not diminished his value. “I know he’s that guy right now that’s probably not getting the run support, but he kept us in the ballgame,” Cash said. “That’s really all you can ask.”
Asked if he was surprised by his recent strikeout surge, Seymour smiled. “I mean, yeah, kind of,” he said. “But really, I’d just prefer to keep runs off the board at a little better pace.”
The Rays trailed 3-0 after seven innings before mounting a late rally. Liam Hicks and Chandler Simpson delivered RBI singles in the eighth to cut the deficit to 3-2, putting two speedy runners in scoring position with Cedric Mullins at the plate. But reliever Chris Devenski retired Mullins on a comebacker, and closer Kodai Senga caught Yandy Díaz looking at strike three to end the ninth with the tying run stranded.
The Rays’ best chance came in the fifth, when they loaded the bases with nobody out against right-hander Robert Stock. Taylor Walls popped out, Díaz struck out and Jonathan Aranda flied out to end the threat without a run. “We just missed, right? There’s not much else to say,” Díaz said through interpreter Kevin Vera. “We missed the opportunity, and you would like the runs in that situation because it probably would have won us the game.”
Díaz, who has not yet attempted to use the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System this season, declined to challenge two borderline called strikes in his final at-bat with the game on the line. “In the moment, I had the mindset of maybe doing it,” Díaz said. “Again, in that heat of the moment, I just didn’t pull the trigger. … Look, the whole challenge thing, it’s not super important to me. I’m just trying to win the game every single day, win the game for our team. So challenge or not, it is what it is.”
Seymour’s dominance creates a roster puzzle for Cash. With starter Griffin Jax returning from the injured list soon, the Rays will have six healthy and effective starters but every Monday off in September, making a six-man rotation difficult to sustain. One option under consideration is deploying Seymour in a bulk-inning relief role to keep Jax, Drew Rasmussen, Freddy Peralta, Shane McClanahan and Nick Martinez fresh for the stretch run.