Thursday, 4 a.m.

The situation wasn’t just dire. It was ridiculous.

The Rays were being thrashed. It was 8-0, two innings into the game, and the Baltimore Orioles were hitting the baseball into the street. Taj Bradley had been chased from the game only four outs into it. It was turning into one of those games you turn off and forget about it.

And then the Rays came back, and came back, and came back again. In the end, they would win 12-8, and if the game had gone any longer, they might have scored 20. They had 18 hits and five walks.

Ir was the largest comeback in the majors this year and matched a franchise record.

In their comeback, the Rays scored three runs in the third and four in the fifth and seventh.

Before Thursday, their largest comeback had been from five runs down.

— Junior Caminero went four-for-five on the day with two RBI.

— Jonathan Aranda went three-for-five with two RBI.

— Brandon Lowe had two hits off the bench, including a two-run homer to tie the game at eight.

—Curtis Mead, Christopher Morel and Yandy Diaz all had two hits.

— Bradley was roughed up, giving up six earned runs in his inning and a third. But the bullpen went 7 2/3 innings and gave up just one hit and one run.

— The Rays had hits in nine of its 13 opportunities with men on base.

The Rays have now scored 44 runs in their last six games, five of them resulting in victories. They’ve totaled 73 hits.

The Rays are now 41-33 on the season and are just a game and a half behind the New York Yankees. They’re 27-16 since the start of May.

The Rays play Baltimore at Steinbrenner Field at 7:05 p.m. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against Charlie Morton.

Wednesday, 4 a.m.

Here’s the worst thing about hot streaks.

They always end with a jolt.

After a week of swinging like the big teams, the Rays were quieted by Baltimore’s Dean Kremer on Tuesday. They had scored 31 runs in their previous four games; they managed just one Yuesay . They had 48 hits; on Tuesday they had just seven in a 5-1 loss to Baltimore.

The Rays gave up single runs in five innings in the loss. They scored only when Junior Caminero singled in Brandon Lowe to tie the game in the fourth.

The Rays were one-for-six with runners in scoring position.

Both Brandon Lowe and Caminero had two hits.

Starter Zack Littell gave up three earned runs over his six innings. Ramon Laureano drove in two runs and Jordan Westburg had three hits for Baltimore.

The teams conclude their series tonight at 7:35 p.m. Taj Bradley will start for the Rays against Trevor Rogers.

Tuesday, 4 a.m.

Perhaps they aren’t nervous at all. After all, the New York Yankees have so much money tied into so much talent, because they are comfortable there at the top of the AL East.

On the other hand, how can they not notice how fast the Tampa Bay Rays are coming up behind them.

The Rays won again Monday, and it was lopsided again. It was 7-1 this time. After four straight of these bashings — they’ve scored at least seven runs in all of them — the Rays now find themselves at 40-32, only 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees. The Rays have now won 19 of their last 25 games.

They had pitching Monday. Ryan Pepiot struck out a season high 11 batters in upping his record to 4-6. He gave up just four hits in his eight innings of work. Forrest Whitleyfinished up with a perfect ninth inning.

They had hitting, too. Jake Mangum had three hits (and drove in three runs). Brandon Lowe, Jonathan Aranda, Junior Caminero and Christopher Morel all had two hits.

Both Josh Lowe and Brandon Lowe each homered.

The Rays play Baltimore again tonight at Steinbrenner Field at 7:35 pm.  Zack Littell will start for the Rays against Dean Kremer.