Rays' Opening Day loss to Cardinals was even worse thanks to a 17-hit reason
This was a brutal way to begin the season for the Rays.
Rays' Opening Day loss to Cardinals was even worse thanks to a 17-hit reason originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The Tampa Bay Rays began their 2026 season on the road, facing the National League Central St.
Louis Cardinals . After building a 7-1 lead, the Rays blew it in the same inning, allowing the Cardinals to score eight runs, and blowing the big lead they had built, all in the sixth inning. But that wasn't the only brutal part of this loss for the Rays.
As Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report shared after the game, their 17-hit performance makes this loss look even worse than their sixth-inning collapse already made it. Rays' 17-hit performance wasted in a brutal loss "Way to waste 17 hits," Rymer writes.
"There were 103 games in which a team gathered 17 or more hits last year, and 100 of them were victories for that team. So, way to go, Rays. Still discovering market inefficiencies after all these years.