TAMPA, Fla. — It's the last homestand of the season for the Tampa Bay Rays, and the ending can't get here soon enough. The Rays are staggering to the finish, losing again on Tuesday night when they fell to the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5.
It was the Rays' third straight loss and ninth in their last 11 games. They are having issues in their temporary home at Steinbrenner Field, too, losing their fifth consecutive home game.
They also lost to the division-leading Blue Jays for the second straight night in the four-game series, and that's their seventh consecutive loss against American League East opponents, their longest losing streak inside the division since dropping eight straight from March 30 to April 8, 2018.
Another bad trend: They've lost four straight one-run games and eight in their last 10 games. They've been unable to get that one big hit in close games and fell to 21-28 in one-run outings, including going 8-15 in their last 23 dating back to July 4.
They are 73-78 now with 11 games to go, and 10th in the AL out of 15 teams. Sure, they're playing a lot of rookies, but this was not the record they were expecting. They can be eliminated from playoff contention any day now, trailing Boston by nine games.
“Everybody in here is competitive, and we want to win games,” Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe, who hit a three-run homer in the third inning to cut into the early Blue Jays' 4-0 lead, told reporters after the game. “But this is good stuff for next year, learning experiences for a lot of guys, a lot of young guys getting in positions that know they’re high-stress, high-intense situations.
“Hopefully they learn from these things. They take this information and move forward, and we’re not talking about this again.''
The Rays got off to a rough start. Ryan Pepiot was back on the mound after missing a start with ''total body fatigue,'' but he struggled with control and gave up a run in the first and three more in the second. He left with two outs in the second inning, throwing 49 pitches to get those five outs.
It was not the outing he was hoping for, to be sure.
“They got two 0-2 hits in the first inning that led to a run, and then went out in the second inning and had no idea where it was going,” Pepiot said. “I tried to make too good pitches, and they spoiled some good ones. But when you fall behind on every single person and you have the bottom of the lineup up and you walk all three of them in a row, you get what you deserve there.”
The Blue Jays added single runs in the fourth and fifth inning to pull ahead 6-3. The Rays rallied late, but came up a little short.
Josh Lowe opened the eighth inning with a walk and went to second on a groundout. Tristan Gray was next and singled to score Lowe, making it 6-4. Christopher Morel walked, but then the threat ended with catcher Nick Fortes grounded into a double play.
They made some noise in the ninth inning, too. Chandler Simpson led off, and walked. He stole second, but wound up at third after a bad throw from Toronto catcher Alejandro Kirk. Yandy Diaz then struck out for the first out.
Brandon Lowe singled to score Simpson and cut the lead to 6-5, and then Junior Caminero walked, putting the winning run on base. But Josh Lowe and Jake Mangum both struck out, ending the game.
The two teams meet again on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. ET. Kevin Gausman (10-10, 3.44 ERA) will start for the Blue Jays and Ian Seymour gets the call for Tampa Bay. He is 3-2 on the season with a 3.16 ERA.
They'll wrap up the series with a 1:10 p.m. day game on Thursday, and then close out their 2025 home schedule with three night games against the Boston Red Sox. That includes Sunday, which was moved to the evening because of a time conflict with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' home opener. Many of the Rays' original schedules had the 1:10 p.m. start time on it.