The Tampa Bay Rays came into the season with Wander Franco at shortstop, Brandon Lowe at second base and Mike Zunino behind the plate. With that kind of strength up the middle, a third straight AL East title seemed like a real possibility.
Now all three of those players are injured, and Tampa Bay — along with the rest of the division — has been left behind by the New York Yankees.
The Rays lost two of three at Baltimore over the weekend and dropped seven of nine overall on their road trip. That slump included a three-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees, who lead third-place Tampa Bay by 13 games and second-place Toronto by 11.
For the Rays, the offense has been the primary culprit. They rank 26th in the major leagues in both on-base percentage and slugging. Franco hasn’t played at all this month because of a quadriceps injury. Lowe, who hit 39 home runs last season, has only five in 32 games in 2022. Back problems have sidelined him for over a month.
Zunino also has just five homers after hitting 33 in 2021. He went on the injured list just over a week ago with a shoulder problem.
Even so, the Rays are still six games over .500. They have the fourth-best ERA in baseball, and Shane McClanahan (1.84) leads the American League in that category. But in an unforgiving AL East — with the Yankees on pace for 120 wins, and the Blue Jays and Red Sox also in contention for the postseason — Tampa Bay is facing some significant adversity.
UNPREDICTABLE
Atlanta entered its series with Chicago on a 14-game winning streak, and the Cubs had lost 10 in a row. So naturally, Chicago took the opener 1-0 on Friday.
It was the first time two double-digit streaks ended in the same game since Philadelphia’s win over Houston on Sept. 15, 1999 — which ended an 11-game skid for the Phillies…
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