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Rays journal: Tim Beckham laments on ‘tough season’ for Orioles

 
Published Aug. 9, 2018|Updated Aug. 9, 2018

ST. PETERSBURG — It hasn't been the season INF Tim Beckham wanted, for himself or for the Orioles, but his bat got a spark with this week's return to Tropicana Field to face his old team.

Beckham hit a solo home run in the first inning Wednesday, after getting one in Tuesday's series opener. Coming into the series, he had only four home runs after hitting a combined 22 last season between the Rays and Orioles.

"For sure, it's been a tough season for all of us," Beckham said after Tuesday's game. "It's not an excuse. Our record is no excuse to lack the effort. We're going to go out and compete. That's all we can do, control what we control. It's baseball. It sucks, but that's the game."

Beckham hit .306 with Baltimore after the Rays traded him, and the Orioles finished 75-87 last year, just five games behind the Rays.

This year's a different story, with a 35-79 record, second-worst in the majors. Beckham is hitting .234. Only his 2015 rookie year with the Rays, when he finished hitting .222, has been lower.

Sliding down

CF Kevin Kiermaier hit seventh in the Rays' batting order Wednesday, the lowest position he has been in all season. He entered the game 3-for-27 on the current homestand, and he grounded out to second in the second inning and struck out in the fourth.

Moving up

Prospect Nate Lowe, 23, has gotten his second promotion of the season, getting the bump from Double-A Montgomery to Triple-A Durham, where he is scheduled to play first and bat fifth Thursday night.

Lowe, a 13th-round pick out of Mississippi State in 2016, has hit the ball well everywhere he has been this year. He hit .356 with 10 home runs and 44 RBIs in 51 games at Class-A Charlotte, then hit .342 with 13 home runs and 42 RBIs in 50 games at Montgomery.

Lowe has a younger brother, Josh, who was the Rays' first-round pick in 2016. Josh, 20, is hitting .245 for Charlotte with six home runs and 17 steals. Their name is pronounced "low," not to be confused with Rays rookie Brandon Lowe (no relation), whose name rhymes with "now."

Close calls

The Rays' current streak of one-run games has reached five. Unfortunately for them, they're 1-4, putting them 21-27 in one-run games this season. They're on pace for 38 one-run losses, a feat no MLB team has done since the 1968 White Sox, who had 44. The Rays franchise record in a single season is 30, set in 2015.

Miscellany

• 2B Joey Wendle was honored with the Heart and Hustle Award before the game, as voted by former MLB players. A leaguewide winner will be announced Nov. 8.

• RHP Chaz Roe, on the disabled list since July 8 with a left meniscus tear, is scheduled to make his first rehab appearance Thursday with Class-A Charlotte, which is at home against Dunedin.

• Rookie SS Willy Adames' walkoff home run Tuesday was the team's second this year out of the No. 9 spot in the lineup, following Daniel Robert­son on July 22. Before this season, the team hadn't had a walkoff home run out of the 9 spot since 2008, when Gabe Gross did it.

Times staff writer Marc Topkin contributed to this report. Contact Greg Auman at gauman@tampabay.com and (813) 310-2690. Follow @gregauman.