This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ST. PETERSBURG — The Rays couldn’t ask for much better pitching than they’ve been getting lately. Heading into Monday’s series opener at Tropicana Field, they had put together a Major League-best 2.57 ERA — yes, better than the Yankees — in 35 games since May 11. Their starters have been excellent, with a 2.69 ERA during that stretch. Their relievers have been great, with a 2.97 ERA on the year and a 1.49 mark since June 5.

You’ve probably heard over and over again that the Rays are built on pitching and defense. Most nights, their pitching has been good enough to win. So why, with that kind of run prevention, have they been playing roughly .500 baseball since the second week of May?

The answer is pretty clearly their offense, which struggled in a bad way nearly every day of their nine-game road trip to Minnesota, New York and Baltimore. As a team, the Rays entered the week slashing .233/.296/.372 while scoring 4.05 runs per game, which ranked 25th in the Majors and 11th in the American League.

Of the Rays’ first 67 games, 25 were decided by one run; they lost 13 of those, including seven since June 4 and 10 since May 8. After Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Orioles, manager Kevin Cash was asked if he was encouraged that the Rays gave themselves chances to score or frustrated that they didn’t make anything of them. His answer was direct and honest.

“I don’t really care,” Cash said. “If we’re not winning, that’s how I see it.”

Brandon Lowe was playing through an injured back and hasn’t been in the lineup since May 15. Wander Franco played through leg issues and hasn’t played at all this month, although he may return this weekend if his rehab assignment goes well. Mike Zunino is receiving a Botox injection to address a potential case of thoracic outlet syndrome. The Rays had been cautious with Manuel Margot since he came back from a strained right hamstring, and now he’s expected to miss “significant” time due to a right knee sprain. Kevin Kiermaier has been banged up, too, and he’s also bound for the IL due to left hip inflammation.

Those are some of the Rays’ most important players. With them sidelined or compromised, others have had to take on bigger roles and will continue to do so. Tampa Bay relies on its depth, which is how the pitching staff has survived through a ton of key injuries, but the lineup isn’t going to breeze through all these injuries with no consequences.

“We’ve lost some key components. Brandon and Wander play a huge role in our offense,” Cash said on Monday afternoon. “Saying that, we continue to have confidence that we’re able to do some things — maybe not the same way that we got there with Brandon and Wander — but our young players can be better for these opportunities and [we] still have confidence in them.”

Yes, even though those young players aren’t exactly making the most of those opportunities.

Infielder Taylor Walls is slashing .147/.233/.247, good for an adjusted OPS that’s 56 percent worse than the league average, and he has the fifth-most plate appearances on the team. Vidal Bruján has been worse, and he hit fifth against Gerrit Cole on Monday night. Josh Lowe struggled in his first extended big league action. Isaac Paredes has had some good at-bats, but his average is on the wrong side of the Mendoza line.

“We just have to talk with those guys a lot, because I know sometimes they feel frustrated with their numbers and everything,” Harold Ramírez said. “We’ve got to explain they can help the team with defense, running the bases, not just hits, so we just talk with those guys a lot.”

The Rays still believe in those players, and they’re all 25 or younger with less than a season’s worth of plate appearances in the Majors to their names. They’re not going to give up on them now. But they’re probably missing out on chances to work in a lower-pressure environment, like Josh Lowe just did for seven weeks in Triple-A, because injuries are forcing them into bigger roles.

Lowe’s not back to save the lineup, but he had some good advice for his fellow hitters when he returned to the Rays’ clubhouse on Monday.

“I think it’s just kind of remembering it’s a long year. You have ups and downs. Don’t get too low. Don’t get too high,” Lowe said. “In the end, we all know we’re a really good team with good players. We’re going to get out of it, whatever it is, and we’ll be good.”