Rays relief dominates again as Orioles are swept (updated)

The Orioles were able to get into the Rays bullpen early today, which is good news against most teams. Not this one.

Michael Wacha served as the opener, Tampa Bay's relievers didn't give an inch and the Orioles lost 7-1 to complete the sweep at Tropicana Field.

César Valdez inherited two runners from Travis Lakins Sr. in the seventh, and a strikeout and intentional walk were followed by Randy Arozarena's grand slam.

The Orioles are 22-42 and have lost 15 consecutive road games, the streak starting after John Means' no-hitter on May 5. They've dropped 12 of their last 13 against the Rays.

Left-hander Josh Fleming replaced Wacha to start the third and didn't allow a run or hit in four innings. Matt Wisler marked his Rays debut by retiring the side in order in the seventh. Andrew Kittredge struck out two while retiring the side in order in the eighth. Jeffrey Springs faced three batters in the ninth and got a strikeout, ground ball and pop up.

"We know what we're facing, so we try to get a plan," shortstop Freddy Galvis said on his Zoom call. "I thought we had some good at-bats and we hit some really good baseballs right to people. Not too much luck in this trip to Tampa, but we've got to keep playing and keep our heads up. That's it, man."

Trey Mancini drew a 10-pitch walk with two outs in the third and Anthony Santander struck out. Center fielder Brett Phillips robbed Santander in the sixth with a lunging catch.

Tampa Bay's bullpen tossed 14 1/3 scoreless innings with two hits allowed in the series, another reason why the Rays have baseball's best record at 42-24. The defense was pretty good, too.

"It's difficult, man, difficult," Galvis said. "We have to come here every single day and try to do the best that we can to win the game. That's what we're going to do. We have to keep fighting and keep practicing and try to get better."

Left-hander Bruce Zimmermann hasn't completed six innings since his first two starts, both against the Red Sox. He came within an out today, leaving with a runner on base and the Orioles behind 3-1. Like Jorge López yesterday, he was done after 95 pitches, a career high for the Baltimore native and Loyola Blakefield graduate.

With heavy use of his slider, Zimmermann allowed six hits with three walks and three strikeouts. His streak of winning decisions ended at three.

"Zimm gave us a chance to win the game," manager Brandon Hyde said on his Zoom call. "Went into the sixth inning, gave up three runs. More time than not you're giving your team a chance to win. I was impressed with his pitch mix. The changeup probably wasn't his best today, but he did a nice job navigating through the lineup, went to his slider in big spots, got some outs and went into the sixth inning. Gave us a chance. We just didn't score.

"He's getting some nice experience right now. I'm impressed with Zimm and his pitchability. Right now he doesn't have an overpowering fastball, the changeup is a little bit inconsistent at times, the curveball sometimes is inconsistent, also, but he's got a good slider and he's able to get through major league lineups by changing speeds, starting guys off differently, not being predictable. He's doing a really good job in his rookie year."

The Orioles led 1-0 in the second inning on Austin Hays' leadoff walk and a two-out single from Pat Valaika, who lined Wacha's changeup into left field - and then was picked off first base.

Yandy Díaz tied the game in the third inning with a run-scoring single into left field. Manuel Margot went first-to-third on the play, which shouldn't happen, but Zimmermann retired the next two batters. Catcher Austin Wynns did a superb job framing a slider to get a called third strike on Mike Brosseau and Galvis dropped to his knees to field Arozarena's grounder and get the force.

The Rays led 3-1 in the fourth on Taylor Walls' two-run single, the third hit of the inning. Wynns threw out Walls attempting to steal.

Brandon Lowe led off with a slow roller up the third base line, the latest soft single for the Rays after they collected four yesterday in the first inning. Francisco Mejía dumped a single into left to intensify the jam and Zimmermann couldn't escape it.

Seventy pitches through the fourth weren't going to let Zimmermann get deep into the game, but he needed only six in the fifth, a couple hard-hit balls finding gloves.

"Overall, probably a B-minus or so," Zimmermann said, grading his outing. "That's a really tough Rays team, scrappy as hell. You get them on base and they'll run, you get them at the plate and, like you saw today, they'll kind of put anything in play. Tough at-bats all the way, one through nine. I thought I battled well, got a little unlucky there in the fourth with some soft contact, and I also had some really nice plays by my infielders today and a nice throw by Wynns. Just got to do a better job of getting ahead.

"I felt like I was nibbling a little bit today. The first, second and fifth I thought I did a really good job of attacking the zone. The third and the fourth we had some short innings offensively after a long inning I had myself, so coming back out after those are always tough, but you've got to shorten those up and get back in the dugout as quickly as possible because my guys need a rest as much as I need a rest. It was a grind today. I definitely didn't have my best stuff, but with what I had and the guys behind me, I thought did a decent job. I expect more out of myself, though, to get through the sixth inning."

DJ Stewart batted leadoff for the first time in his career, ran the count to 3-0 in the first inning and singled into center field. He went 1-for-4.

Wacha drilled Mancini on the right elbow with a 93 mph fastball, the second time that Mancini has been hit on that part of the arm, though not as flush today. He stayed in the game and was erased on Santander's double play grounder.

Head athletic trainer Brian Ebel checked on Mancini, who grimaced and flexed the arm. He avoided the injured list after the White Sox's Dylan Cease hit him on May 27, though he was on the ground for several minutes and came out of the game the next inning.

Hays remained in the lineup today after his hamstring "grabbed a little bit," as manager Brandon Hyde put it, while running down a ball yesterday in right-center field. He stayed in the game and got the start today in center.

"He's not playing at 100 percent, still, with the leg," Hyde said on his Zoom call. "He felt fine after the game, he felt fine this morning. He wanted to be in there."

The Orioles could announce a roster move later today, sending down a reliever to make room for Monday night's starter in Cleveland. Lakins is the most vulnerable, pitching on back-to-back days, and Dean Kremer is the likely choice to start with his last appearance for Triple-A Norfolk coming on Tuesday.

Update: Lakins was optioned to Norfolk.

Note: Mike Baumann is pushing to get back in Norfolk's rotation. He tossed four scoreless innings today with Double-A Bowie, allowing two hits, walking none and striking out four. Adley Rutschman hit his 10th home run, again going to the opposite field.