Too Many Almosts, One More Loss : Rays 1, Reds 6
Apr 20, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero (13) throws to first base in the sixth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images | Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images We’ve all had that moment when we’ve spotted an open parking space, only to loop around and realize someone else slid into it before you got there.
Thursday night’s Tampa Bay Rays game against the Cincinnati Reds had a similar feeling. Every time the Rays looked like they had an opening, Cincinnati beat them to it with a timely swing, a key defensive play, or a mistake Tampa Bay could not get ahead of. In the end, the Reds had handed the Rays a 6-1 loss, and the frustrating part was not that Tampa Bay never had a chance.
It was that they had a few. A pretty good one in the first inning, especially. A couple more scattered later.
But the baseball gods are not especially generous to teams that waste baserunners, and the Rays spent most of this game learning that lesson the hard way. Jesse Scholtens got TJ Friedl to flyout to start the night, but then Matt McLain doubled and Elly De La Cruz moved him over to third with a groundout. That brought up Sal Stewart, who did exactly what hitters should do when you give them a pitch across the center of the plate.
He sent a two-run homer out to center, and just like that the Rays were playing from behind before the bottom of the first even arrived. Sal Stewart launches his eighth home run of the season 💪 pic. twitter.
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