Rays make a big mess in getting swept by O's, losing 4th straight

BALTIMORE - It would be hard to not consider pitcher Jon Heasley's unfortunate reintroduction to the major leagues on Wednesday - he threw up shortly after taking the mound in the fifth inning - as a fitting representation for how badly the Rays have been playing.

With Wednesday's 11-2 loss to the Orioles, the Rays were swept in a series for the first time this season and lost a season-high fourth straight.

"You've got to credit them: they came out and did a good job," said shortstop Taylor Walls. "We've had some guys banged up, so we haven't had our ‘A' game out there, I guess.

"But you've got to find ways. Guys have got to step up and you've got to have good at-bats, you've got to pitch well, and we just didn't really execute on all facets of the ball this series. We've got to clean it up and get better."

After committing four errors and allowing five unearned runs on Monday, then making three miscues that led to six unearned runs on Tuesday, the Rays were knocked around from the start on Wednesday.

Lefty Steven Matz, who had a solid four-inning return on May 20 after a 16-day injured list stint due to elbow inflammation, made a quick mess.

Matz allowed the first six Orioles to reach base - including Tampa's Pete Alonso with his 1,000th career hit - and five to score in a 10-batter, 36-pitch first inning. He only lasted three on the night.

Manager Kevin Cash said it looked like the veteran lefty "was just fighting himself a little bit."

Matz said he felt fine physically, but definitely "out of whack" pitching wise, unable to stop the Baltimore bashing.

"There wasn't anything I could go to to kind of get me out of the jam there," Matz said. "From the very first pitch, they were on me. They were hitting my changeup. They were hitting my fastball. I was able to go to the curveball a little bit, but then I started trying to nit-pick a little bit, had a couple bad walks.

"They were just on everything that first inning. Definitely fighting myself, wasn't as sharp as I wanted to be. When I was missing a barrel, the (hits) were still falling in. They were hitting the ball hard. So just not ideal to start there in the first inning."

Worse, the Rays had wasted a promising opportunity against O's rookie Trey Gibson, a 24-year-old making his second big-league start, in the top of the first.

Chandler Simpson led off with an infield single, but Junior Caminero grounded into his American League-co-leading ninth double play. Then Jonathan Aranda singled and Yandy Diaz walked, but Richie Palacios grounded out to first.

"When we're winning, we're driving those guys in," Palacios said. "And then when we're in tough ruts like now is when we're not getting that big hit."

The Rays were down 6-0 when Matz left, and the Orioles added five more over the final four innings against Heasley, a 29-year-old called up from Triple A to make his first big-league appearance since May 23, 2024.

Heasley, if you were wondering, has thrown up before on the mound, at least "a handful" of times, he said, and also did often before high school football games - a combination of adrenaline, "a little bit of nerves" and a weak stomach.

"So if it does happen, don't be alarmed, I'm all right," he cautioned before Wednesday's game. "I can usually just get it out, and I'm good and keep going. So don't panic."

With the Rays, not so much.

After winning Friday's series opener at Yankee Stadium, they had a majors-best 34-15 record, were on a torrid 22-4 tear and had a 5 ½-game division lead.

After being rained out Saturday, they were walked off Sunday on Aaron Judge's two-run homer in the ninth.

That was the start of their bad week, as they got walked off again Monday in the 13th inning by the Orioles after blowing four leads then lose again Tuesday and Wednesday. The combined series score was 26-10.

Now the Rays are 34-19, and their AL East lead is just 1 1/2 games. They took some solace in heading back to Tropicana Field (given their majors' home-best 19-5 record), where they open a series Friday against the AL-worst Angels.

"We we feel really good at home. We have an off-day, everyone getting refreshed, reset," Matz said. "This is going to happen. We built a nice cushion for ourselves. We've played really good baseball these first few months, so I don't think anybody's panicking. We're in a good spot, and we're just going to keep putting our best foot forward."

And rediscover what was working so well for weeks.

"We know this game is tough," Palacios said. "Sometimes we're not going to have the breaks that we have. We're just going to lock in and hopefully continue to do what we always do and stay with our identity."

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This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 10:07 PM.