Rays top Astros again

Justin Verlander allows five runs in his worst outing since coming to Houston.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Each plate appearance begins with a chant from the crowd, however meager it may be, inside a venue with baseball’s second-worst attendance and that houses horrors for the Houston Astros.

“Wil-son,” the crowd at Tropicana Field yells, singing along with Phish’s song of the same name.

There’s an ongoing All-Star campaign for Wilson Ramos, the Rays catcher once nicknamed Buffalo, here in Tampa. Chris Archer dressed as a Buffalo Soldier on MLB Network prior to Friday’s game to aid the cause. Washington D.C.-centric graphics accompany Ramos’ intro video, too, urging fans to vote him over Gary Sanchez and into the game as a starter.

“His bat is as locked in as I’ve ever seen it,” Kevin Kiermaier said. “He’s dangerous when he steps to the plate and right now, more than ever, it feels like it.”

Should it happen, and all aligns precisely in Houston, Ramos’ battery mate will be Justin Verlander. He is the American League’s undisputed best pitcher, a godsend in Houston for the first 28 starts he’s given its ballclub.

Ramos ruined the 29th. He drove in four runs against Verlander in the first two innings, too large a deficit for the Astros offense to conquer in a 5-2 loss that prolonged the anemia enveloping it inside Tropicana Field.

In 22 games here throughout their franchise history, the Astros average 2.3 runs. Through three games in this series, they have 16 hits. Zero with a runner in scoring position. Their offense is three home runs — a Jake Marisnick solo shot on Thursday and two two-run blasts from Alex Bregman on Friday and Saturday.

“We didn’t have great at-bats most of the night,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “I hate the results in this ballpark, if you look back at what we’ve done. It is what it is. We have another game tomorrow and we need to figure it out before tomorrow.”

Bregman’s sixth-inning home run was his fifth in sixth games. Ten of his last 12 hits have gone for extra bases.

He and Evan Gattis now share an Astros franchise record after both finished June with 30 RBIs. Gattis singled in that sixth inning, too, the last of four consecutive men to reach base in the frame. Just two scored.

The Astros placed one other runner in scoring position all afternoon.

“Verlander was a little bit unfortunate today with some of the weak contact that went for hits,” Bregman said, “but we have to do a better job putting up runs for him.”

In each of the 28 starts in an Astros uniform preceding this one, Verlander had pitched into the sixth inning. No opponent had struck more than eight hits against him, either. Never had he allowed five earned runs.

He allowed three in the first inning and two more in the second — cementing this, after only two innings, as the worst start of Verlander’s Astros tenure

Verlander required 52 pitches to collect his first six outs. There was self-inflicted trouble, a sprinkling of bad luck and Ramos’ menacing presence.

Verlander allowed three balls in play with an exit velocity harder than 100 mph. Ramos clubbed them all.

“In games like these, you just have to focus on positives, man,” Verlander said. “I gave up three hard-hit balls all to the same guy (Ramos) and the rest of them, nobody hit a ball hard. That’s baseball sometimes. There’s been plenty of times I’ve given up hard-hit balls that turn into outs. It’s never a good feeling when they don’t turn into outs, especially when they pile themselves up.

Verlander operated with feel for two pitches. Eighty-three of his 97 pitches were either fourseam fastballs or sliders.

Command of his curveball was elusive — the “worst feel” Verlander said he’s had for it this season. He yanked the second one he threw, plunking Kevin Kiermaier in the back leg to open the game.

Matt Duffy and Jake Bauers each followed with singles. None exited the bat harder than 82 mph. Ramos arrived, raced ahead of Verlander 3-1 and blistered a double off the right field wall. The missile was 107.2 mph off the bat. It missed a grand slam by feet. Kiermaier and Duffy still scored with ease.

“The dagger,” Verlander said. A single up the middle in the second, after Verlander allowed three consecutive two-out baserunners, drove in the same two baserunners. Even Ramos’ fourth-inning groundout against Verlander was scorched, 106.3 mph off the bat.

Ten of the 13 hitters he faced after the second inning were retired. Five of Verlander’s eight strikeouts came during that span.

Julio Aguilar / Getty Images Justin Verlander arguably had his worst start since joining the Astros last year. Verlander allowed five runs — four of which were driven in by Wilson Ramos — on nine hits in 5 innings.