Offensive opportunities can’t materialize for Guardians in 4th straight loss

ST. PETERSBURG — The Guardians went down quietly Saturday night. Five singles and six baserunners overall. Only one foray in scoring position. Just 13 balls hit out of the infield all game. They were shut down and shut out.

Following a 3-0 defeat against the Rays at Tropicana Field, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt searched for positives after his club’s fourth straight loss. He couldn’t find many.

But an obvious highlight was the work of right-hander Tanner Bibee (4-10), who allowed three runs over six innings, helping to preserve a bullpen that needed a break.

“Tanner wiggled his way out of a jam, then they got to him in the fifth,” Vogt said. “But for him to turn in six innings on the night, when we absolutely and desperately needed six innings from our starter … he knew he needed to do that and he gave us a chance to win.”

Rays starter Nick Martinez (10-2) gave his team an even better chance, limiting the Guardians to four harmless singles over six innings, while walking none and striking out five.

“Martinez has had our number this year,” said Vogt, pointing out a 1-0 defeat against Martinez and the Rays on April 28 in Cleveland. “He has the three fastballs and he was landing the backdoor slider. Then the changeup is such a big difference from the fastballs. He has the numbers he has for a reason.

“We need to keep working and keep battling. It has been a tough couple of days for us offensively.”

Guardians designated hitter Travis Bazzana, who had two of the team’s five hits, said the struggles were partially a product of facing two of Tampa Bay’s top starters (Martinez and Shane McClanahan).

“But we’ve just got to execute a plan and prepare as best we can,” Bazzana said. “It’s a long season and these have been tough, tough battles, especially against some good arms. We have to prepare with the same confidence every day, take a look in the mirror and see how you can get your at-bats better.”

Bibee escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, coaxing Ben Williamson into an inning-ending grounder. But the scoreless game came apart in the fifth.

Yandy Díaz hit a double that one-hopped the center-field fence, and went to third on Jonathan Aranda’s single. Junior Caminero followed with an opposite-field scorcher — 110.8 mph off the bat — that went over the head of right fielder Angel Martínez for an RBI double. Cedric Mullins then collected an easy sacrifice fly, scoring Aranda from third, when the off-kilter throw from left fielder Stephen Kwan bounced and didn’t reach the infield.

In the sixth, with a first-and-third situation, No. 9 hitter Hunter Feduccia laid down a perfect safety squeeze bunt for an RBI and the Rays’ third run.

“I feel like it was obviously a grinding day, and I feel like if you don’t take the [satisfaction] in those outings, it’s going to be a really long season,” Bibee said. “You’ve got to take what you get. Sometimes, you’ve got to find the wins. Obviously, this isn’t how I wanted the day to go. But we battled against one of the better teams in the league, I’d say.”

It was a scoreless duel until Caminero’s opposite-field double changed the game’s trajectory.

“I had gotten Caminero to ground out on a sweeper [in the fourth inning], so the mindset was probably thinking [pitching] away,” Bibee said. “He put a good swing on a sinker in, kind of left it over the plate a little bit, and he just did what he does. Honestly, he has got some juice the other way.”

The Guardians, who have dropped 14 of their last 21 games at Tropicana Field since the start of 2019, would love to find some offensive juice in Sunday afternoon’s series finale.