Last year’s biggest frustration — producing at the plate in key moments — already has revisited the Tampa Bay Rays’ clubhouse as the team prepares to host the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night.
In Tuesday’s 4-3 defeat against the Angels to start a 13-game homestand, the Rays had a chance to add runs in the final third of the game, but they stranded a runner on third with no outs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.
In a nightmarish display of clutch hitting, they went 0-for-9 with five strikeouts.
“It is frustrating,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash, whose club was 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. “It’s something that we talked quite a bit about during spring training. … (Angels closer Kenley Jansen) got pretty nasty pretty quick once we got some guys on base.”
Jansen recorded his third save of 2025 and the 450th of his stellar career after allowing leadoff singles and stolen bases to Jake Mangum and Taylor Walls, but he finished the game with a pair of strikeouts.
Both clubs will turn to their Opening Day starters Wednesday for their third starts in the new season.
Angels manager Ron Washington will send out seven-year veteran Yusei Kikuchi to possibly win a fourth straight series to start the season.
The 33-year-old Japanese left-hander sports an 0-1 record and a 4.50 ERA in similar outings against the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals. In twin six-inning starts, Kikuchi surrendered three earned runs with fewer hits allowed than innings pitched.
However, he struggled with his control his last time out, issuing five walks to the Cardinals last Wednesday after walking none against the host White Sox on Opening Day.
In a 2024 season that saw Los Angeles dealt a franchise-worst 99 losses, starting pitching was an enormous downfall as the rotation offered up the AL’s worst team ERA — 4.97.
“A tough year last year brought us all closer,” catcher Logan O’Hoppe said during spring training. “I learned a lot of lessons from last year. But I don’t ever want to go through it again.”
After pitching for the Houston Astros last season, Yikuchi joins a rotation featuring Jose Soriano, Jack Kochanowicz, Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks.
Over 11 starts and one relief appearance totaling 59 2/3 innings against Tampa Bay, Yikuchi is 6-2 with a 3.47 ERA. The Rays have hit .243, with eight home runs and 19 walks.
Cash’s club will counter with Ryan Pepiot (0-1, 2.45 ERA), a hard-throwing right-hander who has pitched well in two outings that each went nearly 90 pitches apiece.
Last Wednesday in a season-opening, six-game homestand finale, Pepiot tossed five innings of two-run ball that started the Rays’ five-game losing streak, taking the loss in a matchup with Pittsburgh Pirates fireballing superstar Paul Skenes.
Pepiot said afterward he never considers the opposing starter in a matchup, especially a talent like Skenes.
“You just don’t think about that,” Pepiot said. “I start thinking about that where you have to be perfect and precise, and then you’re never going to have success.”
A second-year pitcher for the Rays, Pepiot will make his initial appearance against the Angels.
