The curious case of the Tampa Bay Rays
In the seemingly minute span of nine hours and 18 minutes, spread out over four years and 23 days, the Tampa Bay Rays have epitomized offensive futility.
On four occasions during that time frame, a pitcher threw a no-hitter or perfect game against them:
July 23, 2009 – Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox – 2:03, perfect game
May 9, 2010 – Dallas Braden, Oakland Athletics – 2:07, perfect game
June 25, 2010 – Edwin Jackson, Arizona Diamondbacks – 2:46, no-hitter
Aug. 15, 2012 – Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners – 2:22, perfect game
Rays hitters are 0-for-99 with eight walks in those games and, though they're not currently a top hitting club, they weren't anything to sneeze at in 2009 or 2010:
2009 – Ranked 5th with a .782 OPS
2010 – Ranked 14th with a .736 OPS
2012 – Ranked 25th with a .682 OPS
Here are the total stats for each batter who's appeared for the Rays in any of those four games:
STARTERS:
B.J. Upton 0-for-11 (1 BB)
Jason Bartlett 0-for-9 (1 BB)
Evan Longoria 0-for-9 (1 BB)
Ben Zobrist 0-for-8 (2 BB)
Carlos Pena 0-for-8 (2 BB)
Matt Joyce 0-for-7
Sean Rodriguez 0-for-6
Carl Crawford 0-for-6
Gabe Kapler 0-for-6
John Jaso 0-for-4
Hank Blalock 0-for-4
Sam Fuld 0-for-3
Dioner Navarro 0-for-3
Pat Burrell 0-for-3
Michael Hernandez 0-for-3
Jose Lobaton 0-for-2
Elliot Johnson 0-for-2
PINCH-HITTERS:
Willy Aybar 0-for-3 (1 BB)
Desmond Jennings 0-for-1
Jeff Keppinger 0-for-1