Rays have an ‘out of sync’ offense, no answers and mounting losses

TAMPA Answering a question before Wednesdays game about the maddening inconsistency his team has shown during the first six weeks, Rays manager Kevin Cash drew a comparison to last season.He said it felt very similar at the moment to the ups, downs and lack of rhythm in their frustrating 80-82 showing, but said, I dont think that thats where were going to end up this year.Cash may well be right.But not in the way he meant.The Rays were battered by the Phillies 7-0 on Wednesday, dropping their overall record to 16-20 as they continued to struggle in multiple ways.Most glaring has been their offense, which Cash said after the game was just completely out of sync and for which I feel like we dont have any answers.But theres plenty more.Playing at home?They lost their sixth straight, 10th in their last 11, and 15th in 24.Being blanked?The shutout was their majors most-matching sixth, five during that rough 11-game stretch at Steinbrenner Field.

Plus, the seven runs theyve scored total over their last six home games are their fewest in any such stretch in their 28 seasons of play.Facing lefties?They were handcuffed again, their one hit off starter Cristopher Sanchez in six innings evidence of their paltry .182 average and .536 OPS both second worst in the majors against southpaws.Pitching?They allowed five-plus runs in a third straight game for the first time in nearly a year, with Shane Baz having a rough and abbreviated outing, saying the primary problem was just not really executing my pitches how I wanted.But the biggest problem is their lack of offense, which has been an overall issue much of the season.Everybodys putting forth the effort that is needed.

Theyre putting the work in behind the scenes and leading into the game, Cash said.But I feel like we dont have any answers.

And if we had an answer to give, believe me, we would try to provide it.

But we are out of sync as a lineup right now.

Definitely against left-handed pitching.And what exactly did he mean by that?Timing, getting pitches to hit and not handling them, fouling them off, missing them, expanding when not needed, Cash said.

I mean, you look up and through 64 pitches, Sanchez was 50-50 balls-strikes, and we had nothing to show for it.I think its a combination of a lot of things that can put a lineup out of sync.

But I dont think theres any argument that we are.Even in following a sweep by the Royals by taking two of three at Yankee Stadium last weekend losing 3-0, then winning 3-2 and 7-5 Cash acknowledged they havent really been clicking.I dont want to take anything away from the guys (but) in New York, we didnt do much the first night, he said.

We didnt do much the second night.

We got some late runs with some opportunistic plays on the defensive side of the ball.

And then (Sunday) we put together some good at-bats and got some big hits with guys on base.But I definitely dont feel like theres a flow to the lineup right now where were turning it over and were putting pressure on the opposing pitcher.That has definitely been part of the problem, and the subject of discussion the hitters had in New York, to be less aggressive and make opposing pitchers work harder.See if we cant get him to sweat a little bit, Brandon Lowe said.Catcher Danny Jansen, a newcomer this season but well familiar with the Rays as an opponent, said they remain confident they will do better.I think that weve definitely had our fair share of communication and talking and pulling for each other.

Were going to continue to do that, he said.Its definitely a streaky bit right now.

So it just comes down to guys obviously, we show up and prepare and just got to keep plugging and turn this thing around on the offensive side.

Weve got the talent in here to do it."And once they do, Jansen said, they put a lot of the questions to rest.Weve just got to keep rolling with it, man, and its going to happen ...

he said.

This team is too talented offensively.

Defensively, were rolling out the best defense every given night out there with everybody in there.

Pitching staff obviously is dominant, and weve got the guys with bats that can do it here.So just keep plugging, keep pulling for each other.

Obviously a weird, tough stretch, but weve got the personnel to get out of it.Theyre going to have to prove it.Before it looks like last year.

Or worse.

Sign up for our Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.Every weekday, tune into our Sports Day Tampa Bay podcast to hear reporter Rick Stroud break down the biggest stories in Tampa Bay sports.Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams.

Follow our coverage on X and Facebook..

This article has been shared from the original article on yahoo, here is the link to the original article.