Drew Rasmussen makes one mistake, and it's enough for Rays to lose again

Drew Rasmussen has done many impressive things on the mound since joining the Rays in a May 2021 trade.

Somewhere on that list was his mastery of Shohei Ohtani, who otherwise is one of the game's most dynamic and dangerous hitters. He had shown that in his first 31 career games against the Rays, hitting .351 with 11 homers, 30 RBIs and a 1.172 OPS.

Including Ohtani's first two trips to the plate on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, Rasmussen held him hitless through seven at-bats and struck him out five times.

Leading off the sixth inning, Ohtani finally swung back, launching Rasmussen's first pitch over the centerfield fence and leading the Dodgers to a 1-0 victory.

The loss was the Rays' fourth on the six-game road trip that ends Wednesday, and the 14th in their last 21 games, dropping them to 41-29 and 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the American League East.

On the morning of May 24, the Rays were a majors-best 34-15 and had a 5 1/2-game division lead.

Rasmussen was coming off back-to-back starts in which he threw seven shutout innings, allowing one hit on June 5 at Miami and two on June 10 vs. Boston.

And aside from the Ohtani homer on a 92-mph cutter that ended his scoreless streak at 19 innings, Rasmussen was dominant over seven innings again on Tuesday, allowing six hits total with no walks, striking out seven, throwing a career-high 102 pitches.

"He was pretty outstanding," Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. "He was really outstanding. Shohei, I think he got him on a cutter earlier in the game, and Ras was trying to get ahead 0-0 right there in the sixth inning and Shohei was ready for it.

"But couldn't be more impressed with the way Ras went about it."

Rasmussen wasn't as sharp as usual with first-pitch strikes and gave up four singles to the first seven Dodgers batters, but was able to keep them from scoring and eventually got in a groove, making broad use of his full arsenal, including his three different fastballs.

"We just kind of shotgun approached it with everything," Rasmussen said in the clubhouse. "We went to a little bit more even usage on the (four-seam) fastball, two-seamer, cutter and then the changeup. We were just able to stay off barrels for the most part.

"I don't think it was particularly sharp. We were able to change speeds and shapes enough that we were able to limit hard contact and get balls hit at guys, which there is some luck that is involved with that. We're very fortunate that it worked out that way."

Offense has also been an issue throughout the Rays' skid, as Tuesday was the fourth time they were shut out (of five overall) and the 12th loss in which they scored three or fewer runs.

They managed only three singles against Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski and three relievers, and got only one runner as far as second base; Austin Slater singled to lead off the fourth and stole second.

"I thought we swung the bats better than maybe what we showed for it," Cash said. "We hit some balls hard; their infield defense was tremendous. ... We just didn't direct the ball the way we needed to."

Ohtani's homer was the ninth allowed this season by Rasmussen, clocked at 106.9 mph off the bat and measured at 427 feet.

"Good player," Rasmussen deadpanned. "I think he's got a bright future."

Rasmussen, who threw 86 pitches through six innings, was adamant about staying in the game to pitch the seventh and got the chance after Cash and pitching coach Kyle Snyder talked it over.

Why?

"Maybe some frustration," he said. "Maybe, I don't know, man, I think we're all competitive. You don't like knowing your day's over, especially ending that way."

Coming off the back-to-back starts of at least seven shutout innings allowing two or fewer hits, Rasmussen entered Tuesday's game looking to join an elite group.

Only three traditional starters in the live ball era (since 1920) ever had three straight starts like that.

Rasmussen showed early he wouldn't be able to join Randy Johnson (1997), Damian Moss (2002) and Justin Verlander (2019), as the Dodgers got four hits in their first seven batters.

Andy Pages and Freddie Freedman rapped one-out singles in the first, but Rasmussen got Mookie Betts to ground into a double play.

A heads-up play by shortstop Taylor Walls saved Rasmussen from allowing a run in the second. One-out singles by Tampa native Kyle Tucker and Ryan Ward put Dodgers on the corners. Alex Freeland dropped a bunt, but it went right to Rasmussen as it was too hard.

Rasmussen decided to try for a double play, turning and firing to second. Walls was positioned several steps in front of the base, so he quickly grabbed the throw and fired home, where catcher Nick Fortes tagged out Tucker.

"I don't know what to say, but we preach get the ball to (Walls)," Rasmussen said. "So I decided to hit the cutoff man and let him do his thing."

The Rays will see plenty of Ohtani on Wednesday, as they wrap up their week-long trip to southern California with a Wednesday matinee (3:10 first pitch Tampa Bay time) that features a premier pitching matchup of Shane McClanahan versus Ohtani.

Since 2021, Rasmussen has a 2.76 ERA that is second best among all major-league pitchers who've thrown at least 500 innings.

The only one better? Ohtani, at 2.62.

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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 12:41 AM.