By Kristie Ackert

Tampa Bay Times

ST. PETERSBURG — Facing one of the best pitchers in the American League with an offense that has scuffled, the Rays decided to shake things up Monday night. Yandy Diaz was dropped from the leadoff spot to make room for the hot-hitting Amed Rosario, and Randy Arozarena was moved into the cleanup spot.

But nothing worked for the Rays against left-hander Tarik Skubal and the Detroit bullpen as they lost 7-1 in front of an announced 13,522 at Tropicana Field.

“I think we’re just going through a bad rap right now,” Diaz said through team interpreter Manny Navarro. “I think it’s a little bit of just getting better pitches and just being more selective as a team, but I think we’ve just got to keep working. I think we’re going to be OK. It is early in the season.”

The Rays (12-12) dropped their second straight game, only the third time they have lost back-to-back games. The Tigers (13-10) snapped a five-game losing streak at Tropicana Field behind a terrific start from Skubal.

“Look, for a team that’s trying to get it’s offense going, which we are, he’s probably not the guy that you want to face,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I mean, it’s really good stuff. A pretty electric fastball, and then he mixes in the other pitches, but everything goes off the fastball. It’s very, ‘Here it is, hit it,’ and we didn’t do that.”

Skubal threw six scoreless innings, scattering three hits. He struck out nine and did not issue a walk. The Rays struck out a dozen times and managed just six hits in all. It was the sixth straight game the Rays scored four runs or fewer and their sixth loss by six or more runs this season.

Their only run came on Jose Caballero’s home run off reliever Shelby Miller in the eighth inning. Two of their hits belonged to Rosario, who extended his career-high hitting streak to 14 games, with one being his first hit off Skubal in 11 at-bats.

Another hit came from Diaz, who went 1-for-4. The 2023 American League batting champion (.330) saw his average drop to .222 after 24 games this season. Diaz said he was fine with the decision to move him out of the leadoff spot for the first time since 2022.

“I don’t think I’m there,” Diaz said of his timing at the plate. “I’m probably about at 60%, but I think with all the work in the cage and everything, I think things are going to turn around in a little bit.”

It wasn’t just the bats that were not sharp for the Rays; the defense behind starter Zack Littell had trouble as well. Caballero was charged with two errors for the first time in his career.

The first came in the second inning, when Diaz could not handle Caballero’s one-hop throw after the shortstop ranged behind second base to field Jake Rogers’ bouncer. As the ball rolled away from Diaz, the first baseman backed up to get it, allowing Javier Baez to score from second base.

Caballero’s second error came in the fifth, with runners on first and second base. Riley Greene hit a ball to Caballero, who said he first looked to second before deciding to throw to first. His throw pulled Diaz off the bag, and Baez scored again.

“The way we were positioned, I probably agree with what he was doing. [Second baseman Curtis] Mead would have had to catch the ball and run [to the base]; that’s a tough play,” Cash said. “I mean, they hit kind of in that perfect spot. And we didn’t convert an out.”

Littell, who allowed just one home run in his first four starts this season, gave up two on Monday, solo shots by Mark Canha in the first inning and Parker Meadows in the sixth.

In all, Littell gave up six runs, including five earned, on nine hits. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter.

He said he didn’t feel he had sharp command.

“I guess the sequencing could have been better,” Littell said. “Locations weren’t right, though, and at the end of the day, bad pitches just get hit.”

CLEVELAND — Despite a day of practice and film sessions in between Game 1 and 2 against the Cavs, the Magic found themselves in the same spot walking off the court inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Monday night.

Although Orlando held Cleveland to under 100 points for the second contest in a row, Jamahl Mosley‘s squad failed to capitalize on its stout defense due to its poor offense output.

The Magic, once again, trailed all 48 minutes on the road and only scored more than 25 points in a single quarter once against the Cavs in the 96-86 loss in front of a packed arena.

Orlando, however, can’t get too down the dumps despite being 2-0 in the first round series between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the East.

That’s because it gets the chance to battle the Cavs at home the next two games in the best-of-seven series, starting Thursday at Kia Center (Bally Sports Florida, 7).

Second slow start

It wasn’t as bad as Saturday’s Game 1 when the Magic fell down 11 points within 5 minutes of tip-off but eventually Orlando found itself trailing by double figures at the end of the opening frame on Monday.

Closing quarters has been a problem at times for Orlando and that was the case again at Cleveland.

The Cavs only led by 3 points, 16-13, at the 4:02 mark before Jalen Suggs exited due to what was later diagnosed as a to a left knee strain.

Cleveland took advantage of Suggs’ absence from the game and closed the quarter on a 14-5 run to lead by 12 points after the first quarter.

Orlando has been outscored by its opponents in 13 of the last 15 first quarters played, dating back to the regular season.

“And now you’re climbing uphill the rest of the way,” Mosley said. “You can play them even all you want the rest of the way but we have to do a better job of coming out with an intensity and a fight to hit from the beginning.”

Suggs update

Although Suggs was able to return to the game at the start of the second half, Mosley said the Magic guard was in “quite a bit” of pain when he suffered the left knee injury.

Suggs — who told reporters post-game in the locker room that he expects to play in Game 3 — will be evaluated when the team returns to Orlando.

Despite missing the final four minutes of the first quarter and all of the second frame, Suggs still saw 29 minutes on the court.

Totaling 9 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, he finished with Orlando’s best plus-minus rating (plus-8).

Second chance scoring

Perhaps what hurt the Magic the most — beyond their slow start — was their inability to rebound against the bigs of Cleveland (center Jarrett Allen and forward Evan Mobley).

The Cavaliers held a 48-41 advantage in overall rebounding but 15 of those came on the offensive glass. These extra possessions led to points when Orlando thought it had already worked hard to get a defensive stop.

Cleveland totaled 18 second-chance points compared to the Magic’s 9.

And it wasn’t just offensive rebounds that made a difference. Cleveland’s defensive rebounds off the Magic’s missed shots — especially from 3 where Orlando shot 9 of 35 (25.7%) — set them up for leak out situations that led to easy points on the other end when the Magic couldn’t get set on defense.

“They got 20 fastbreak points off of some of those long rebounds,” Mosley said about the Cavs. “We have to be able to do the same — rebound the basketball to be able to get out and run.”

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com

CLEVELAND — Despite a day of practice and film sessions between Games 1 and 2 against the Cavs, the Magic found themselves in the same spot walking off the court inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Monday night.

Although Orlando held Cleveland to under 100 points for the second contest in a row, Jamahl Mosley‘s squad failed to capitalize on its stout defense due to its poor offense output.

The Magic again trailed all 48 minutes on the road and  scored more than 25 points in a quarter just once against the Cavs in the 96-86 loss in front of a packed arena.

Orlando, however, can’t get too down despite trailing 2-0 in the first-round series between the Nos. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the East.

That’s because it gets the chance to play the next two games at home in the best-of-seven series, starting Thursday at Kia Center (Bally Sports Florida, 7).

Second slow start

It wasn’t as bad as Saturday’s Game 1 when the Magic fell down 11 points within 5 minutes of tip-off but eventually Orlando found itself trailing by double figures at the end of the opening frame on Monday.

Closing out quarters has been a problem at times for Orlando, and that was the case again at Cleveland.

The Cavs led by just 16-13  at the 4:02 mark before guard Jalen Suggs exited due to what was later diagnosed as a left knee strain.

Cleveland took advantage of Suggs’ absence from the game and closed the quarter on a 14-5 run to lead by 12 points after the first quarter.

Orlando has been outscored by its opponents in 13 of the last 15 first quarters played, dating to the regular season.

“And now you’re climbing uphill the rest of the way,” Mosley said. “You can play them even all you want the rest of the way but we have to do a better job of coming out with an intensity and a fight to hit from the beginning.”

Suggs update

Although Suggs was able to return to the game at the start of the second half, Mosley said the Magic guard was in “quite a bit” of pain when he suffered the left knee injury.

Suggs — who told reporters post-game in the locker room that he expects to play in Game 3 — will be evaluated after the team returns to Orlando.

Despite missing the final four minutes of the first quarter and all of the second frame, Suggs still saw 29 minutes on the court.

Totaling 9 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, he finished with Orlando’s best plus-minus rating (plus-8).

Second-chance scoring

Perhaps what hurt the Magic the most — beyond their slow start — was their inability to rebound against the bigs of Cleveland (center Jarrett Allen and forward Evan Mobley).

The Cavaliers held a 48-41 advantage in overall rebounding but 15 of those came on the offensive glass. These extra possessions led to points when Orlando thought it had already worked hard to get a defensive stop.

Cleveland totaled 18 second-chance points compared to the Magic’s 9.

And it wasn’t just offensive rebounds that made a difference. Cleveland’s defensive rebounds off the Magic’s missed shots — especially from 3 where Orlando shot 9 of 35 (25.7%) — set up the Cavaliers for leak-out situations that led to easy points on the other end when the Magic couldn’t get set on defense.

“They got 20 fastbreak points off  some of those long rebounds,” Mosley said about the Cavs. “We have to be able to do the same — rebound the basketball to be able to get out and run.”

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com

With a 3-1 defeat to the Padres in the series opener on Monday at Coors Field, the Rockies made some bad company.

Colorado became the first team to trail in each of its first 23 games of the season since the Reds did so in 1931. Cincinnati finished in last place in the National League that year, and the Rockies appear destined for the same fate.

And so it goes for the Rockies, who extended their franchise-worst start to 5-18 on a night where Padres right-hander Dylan Cease was nearly unhittable as the Colorado offense sputtered again.

“At some point it’s got to turn where we’ve got to get the bat to the ball and get some big hits,” manager Bud Black said. “There’s really no secret. We’ve got to do a better job. … We’ve got to bunch (hits) together, and we’ve got to do it as a group.”

In defeat, the Rockies didn’t homer for the fourth consecutive home game, their longest streak since 2017. The one-run output also marked a franchise-worst six-game home streak with three or fewer runs scored.

“It’s been tough sledding offensively, for sure,” Black said.

As Austin Gomber ran his pitch count up through the first few innings, the Padres finally plated a run on him in the third. José Azócar led off with a single, and then eventually scored on Jurikson Profar’s two-out single to make it 1-0.

Meanwhile, Cease mowed down the Rockies.

He didn’t allow a hit through three innings before Charlie Blackmon finally laced a belt-high fastball off the wall in right-center to open the fourth. After Ezequiel Tovar’s sacrifice bunt, Ryan McMahon’s sacrifice fly to left brought Blackmon home to tie the game.

Gomber ended up settling back in and finished with that one earned run through five innings, on four hits, three walks and two strikeouts.

“I thought I had below-average stuff, and I was laboring through a bit, but I was able to make pitches when I needed to,” Gomber said. “I knew I had to minimize, maneuver through (traffic), because I knew that one crooked number was probably the end of it.”

Cease continued to roll through the seventh, facing just one batter above the minimum and ending his night with a strikeout of Elehuris Montero on a full-count, 97.8 mph fastball.

“(Cease) commanded his fastball a lot better than we thought coming into the game,” said Brendan Rodgers, who was 0-for-3. “He was attacking with that, and getting pretty good depth on the slider and the curveball. It’s a little funky, because he’s got a short arm (action) and the ball kind of just pops out.”

After Victor Vodnik threw up a pair of scoreless innings over the sixth and seventh, Nick Mears gave up the lead in the eighth. A two-out double by Padres catcher by Luis Campusano was followed by a single to right by pinch hitter Tyler Wade, and Campusano narrowly beat Sean Bouchard’s throw home.

The next batter, rookie center fielder Jackson Merrill, singled through the left side of the infield to score Wade and suddenly San Diego had a 3-1 lead. It was a deficit the Rockies couldn’t make up against the Padres bullpen as Enyel De Los Santos and Robert Suárez shut them out to finish the game. Colorado got two runners aboard against Suárez in the ninth, but McMahon grounded into a double play to end the game.

In addition to the loss, it was another sparse attendance night in LoDo, at least by historical standards for a warm evening at Coors Field. The official count was 18,515, though it seemed less than that in a snappy two hour, 15 minute game. The Rockies ranked 16th in MLB in average home attendance at 26,462 coming into the game.

That crowd also witnessed another rough performance from Nolan Jones. The outfielder went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts to drop his average to .143. After a dazzling rookie year in 2023, Jones is now 0 for his last 26, with 11 K’s in that span.

“We’re going to get out of this,” Rodgers said. “We’ve battled the last couple games. We’ve been in some good ballgames, faced another good pitcher tonight, and we’re facing three more this series. We just have to keep battling.”

Noah Davis update. Black said the right-hander had an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of his shoulder injury, which forced his exit from the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader. Davis, called up from Triple-A on Friday, threw three innings before being pulled due to discomfort in his right shoulder.

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