Reynaldo López allowed seven hits and six runs with three walks and five strikeouts across 4 2/3 innings in a loss to the Rays on Wednesday.
Back after a six week layoff with a knee injury, López was hit hard by the Rays. They rallied for two separate three-run innings where López struggled to end the threats. In the second, Liam Hicks hit a solo home run with one out before allowing a single then brutal two-out walk followed by a double-steal and flare from Jorge Mateo that plated two runs that should never have scored. After that, he let the first batters he faced in the fourth reach base and three wound up scoring. He leaned more so on his slider than usual as he often fell behind in the count and was chasing whiffs, but it didn’t help much. Next up is a matchup with the Cubs in Wrigley Field.
