Rays lose Shane McClanahan to back issue, blow two leads to Royals

ST. PETERSBURG — Thursday was quite a day for the Rays.

They benched their star shortstop, Wander Franco, for at least two games due to his actions toward his teammates. Their top starting pitcher, Shane McClanahan, walked off the mound in the fourth inning due to mid-back tightness. Two other key players, Yandy Diaz and Luke Raley, required on-field attention from the athletic training staff, with Raley was headed for imaging on his sore right hand.

And they blew a pair of two-run leads against a Royals squad with the majors’ second-worst record before losing, 6-5.

In losing for the fourth time in five games to drop their majors-best record to 52-26, the Rays allowed a team record-tying seven stolen bases, had two runners thrown out at third and were on the wrong end of just the fifth game the Royals have won of the 52 in which they trailed after seven innings.

It was only the second time the Rays had lost when leading after seven innings, making them 43-2.

And the winning run scored on a 71.9 mph roller to first base that Diaz and reliever Pete Fairbanks couldn’t make a clean play on after a leadoff walk and two stolen bases.

“It’s a frustrating way to lose a ballgame,” Fairbanks said.

It was a frustrating day for the Rays overall, with Franco’s benching creating the biggest news and McClanahan’s back issue the principal concern.

Both McClanahan — who said he had some tightness before his last start Friday in San Diego — and manager Kevin Cash expressed optimism he won’t need to miss a start but acknowledged it was too soon to say for sure.

“I don’t want to speculate; it’s still pretty early,” McClanahan said. “But the leading notion is we don’t think it’s anything severe. Just maybe more of a precautionary move just to maybe limit whatever it is. Hopefully I’m not missing any starts and we get this thing hammered out in a couple of days.”

Cash said the Rays felt McClanahan “managed it really, really well” on Friday but were concerned Thursday, especially noting how his fastball velocity — which typically averages around 97 mph — was down a bit. It was down a tick more in the fourth, where the four he threw clocked at 93.7, 94.4, 90.9 and 93.6. They had reliever Kevin Kelly warm up quickly, and Cash and head athletic trainer Joe Benge soon headed to the mound.

“We just felt in that moment, (pitching coach Kyle Snyder) and I were talking, the way the ball was coming out that I think he was favoring it a little bit more,” Cash said. “He wanted to stay out there. Appreciate him certainly wanting to go out there and to continue to compete. But I think in those moments, we probably need to err on the side of caution and make sure that we do right by him.”

McClanahan said he “felt like I could have kept going” but acknowledged he “didn’t feel 100%” and “maybe made some adjustments that I shouldn’t have made or go against my normal mechanics” in compensating.

“Just struggling to get the extension on the ball, and they picked up on it,” he said. “I think they made the right move.”

After the Rays took a 2-0 lead in the first, the Royals tied it against McClanahan in the third. They went ahead in the seventh when Drew Waters, their No. 8 hitter (who came into the game with a .167 average) launched a first-pitch homer off reliever Robert Stephenson.

The Rays went back up again in their half of the seventh, when Francisco Mejia hit a tying homer and Randy Arozarena a two-run single that pushed his team-leading RBI total to 53. But reliever Jason Adam, struggling with command of his change-up, faltered again, loading the bases on two singles and a two-out walk before allowing a two-run single to Waters.

The Royals took the lead for good in the ninth.

Maikel Garcia drew a five-pitch leadoff walk from Fairbanks, who hadn’t pitched since Friday, and quickly stole second and third. “In that situation, tie ballgame, ideally we’re not walking the leadoff guy,” Cash said, noting Fairbanks’ stuff got “really nasty” once Garcia got to third.

Fairbanks, who is somewhat deliberate in his delivery, said there wasn’t anything he could do to prevent the steals, noting that Royals bench coach Paul Hoover, a former Rays catching instructor, was well aware of the opportunities to steal.

“He knows that our priority is hitters, not necessarily baserunners,” Fairbanks said.

All of which led to the winning run scoring on the slow roller by speedy MJ Melendez, which Diaz grabbed but made a toss that was behind Fairbanks.

Cash called it “one of those tweener plays — no fault to anybody there. Yandy did it right. Pete did it right by getting over. Melendez is getting down the line pretty quick. And there wasn’t much we could do to to get him out.”

Diaz, via team interpreter Manny Navarro, said it “was a tough play” and Melendez may have beaten the throw, anyway. Fairbanks said he could have tried to scoop the ball, but that might not have worked, either, then referenced the lead character Francis Underwood from the Netflix show, “House of Cards.”

“He was like, ‘What do you want me to do, scream and yell?’” Fairbanks said. “It is what it is. It wasn’t very well hit. It was in the right spot, and that cost us.”

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