Tampa Bay Rays' slump takes them below .500

PHILADELPHIA -- It is never any one thing when a major league team loses 18 of 25 games, as the Tampa Bay Rays have, the latest defeat coming by a 5-3 score Monday night in Philadelphia.

It is usually a combination of things.

On Monday, they managed just six hits, three in the final seven innings. No surprise there, as they have had offensive woes all season. They have scored the third-fewest runs in the majors.

Starter Matt Moore, making his fourth start after missing most of last season following Tommy John surgery, frittered away a 2-0 lead by allowing three runs in the second and another in the Phillies' two-run fifth.

And first baseman James Loney, normally sure-handed, made two errors in the fateful fifth.

So it is that the Rays, 40-30 on June 20, are now 47-48.

"We didn't pitch well and we didn't hit well," manager Kevin Cash said. "We didn't do much to win the game."

Moore was particularly peeved.

"A starting pitcher has to do a better job there (in the second inning)," he said. "We had a 2-0 lead. I wanted to keep them off the board and they got a three-spot."

There is, at least, no sign of panic.

"We've still got 2 1/2 months to go," center fielder Kevin Kiermaier said. "It's time to get a winning streak going and start to feel good about ourselves."