A leaping catch to rob Ji-Man Choi of a three-run homer in the first inning gets the night off to a bad start.
ARLINGTON, Texas — The first sign things weren’t going the Rays’ way came early Monday night.
After they got two on with one out in the top of the first inning, Ji-Man Choi launched a ball 405 feet at 106.1 mph that went over the 6-foot fence to the left of center.
Until Rangers centerfielder Eli White leapt with full extension and brought it back.
The catch was all over social media highlight clips. The Rays certainly did nothing worthy of higher mention in a 9-5 loss to Texas.
Consider:
— Drew Rasmussen had the worst of his 18 starts since joining the Rays rotation in August, walking the first three Rangers and allowing a career-high five runs while lasting only three innings.
— The offense was held down again by a starter, scoring just two runs over six innings against Rangers right-hander Glenn Otto, who is considerably less pedigreed than the Yankees pitchers the Rays faced in the last series.
— The defense again made some costly mistakes of commission and omission. Catcher Francisco Mejia had two wild pitches get past him and made an errant throw in Texas’ two-run first inning. Reliever Ryan Thompson tipped an infield bouncer that was headed to first baseman Choi into rightfield, allowing a run to score. Two balls got over the head of leftfielder Randy Arozarena.
— Wander Franco left the game in ninth after pulling up while rounding first base after his third hit of the night.
The loss dropped the Rays to 28-20 and five games behind the idle Yankees.
Rasmussen’s rough outing was surprising given his remarkable consistency. In nine previous starts this season, he allowed three runs twice (including his last outing), and two or fewer the other seven times.
To provide context on how rare the three consecutive walks were, Rasmussen had thrown 135 previous innings in the majors and had never walked three total in any of them.
