Saturday, 4 a.m.
It didn't take long for Griffin Jax to catch the vibe of the Tampa Bay Rays' wobbly bullpen.
Hint: It wasn't a good vibe.
Jax gave up a three-run homer to Cal Raleigh in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Rays blew a two-run lead to lose. The Rays are now 57-60 on the year and even further away in the Wild-Card standings.
For a long time, it seemed the Rays were set up a better evening. Brandon Lowe homered (his 21st) in the first inning, and Junior Caminero (his 31st) made it 2-0 in the sixth. Meanwhile, Drew Rasmussen was shutting out the Mariners.
It stayed that way until lthe eighth, when Jax gave up singles to J.P. Crawford and Cole Young. That brought up Raleigh, whose 43rd home run of the year gave Jax the loss. Jax now has a 4.96 ERA.
Except for the long ball, the Rays had only three other hits on the night. Caminero had two hits.
Rasmussen had a good start for the Rays, going six shutout innings and allowing just four hits.
The Rays are 11-26 in their last 37 games.
The Rays play the Mariners again tonight at 9:40 p.m. Joe Boyle will start for the Rays against Logan Evers.