Rays lose 2nd straight to Angels, drop to 2nd place in AL East
The Rays have lost a lot over the last three weeks, most noticeably 12 of their last 18 games, as well as their standing as the majors' best team and status as one of the most surprisingly successful.
Saturday's 8-0 defeat by the Angels cost them something else - their spot atop the American League East. The Rays took the division lead on May 8 (with the AL's best record) and held it for the next 35 days - at least by percentage points - until losing Saturday, dropping to 40-27. The Yankees, who beat Toronto earlier, improved to 42-27 as they took over first.
Griffin Jax worked a strong five innings, allowing only an unearned run on a rare error by shortstop Taylor Walls.
But the game changed dramatically after that, as Rays relievers Garrett Cleavinger, Craig Kimbrel and Cole Sulser teamed to allow seven runs over the next two innings.
Their teammates didn't do much to help, managing just five singles for the night and going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position in being shut out for the fourth time and third during their 18-game struggle.
"Back-to-back nights (the Angels) have done a really nice job pitching, making pitches," Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. "Their best pitches are coming if we happen to be putting any pressure of them.
"But our offense is going through it a little bit right now. We'll come out of it. We just need to find a way to get a couple of those big hits in bunches."
The Rays will look to avoid a sweep in Sunday's series finale, with Casey Legumina working as the opener and lefty Ian Seymour lined up to work bulk innings. The Rays next face the Dodgers starting on Monday.
After Jo Adell got the Angels started in the fourth with a two-out double to center, Nolan Schanuel laced a 101.4 mph grounder that took a high hop just in front of Walls, who was positioned to make a backhand pickup and throw to first.
Instead, the ball bounced over his glove, struck his left forearm and caromed into the outfield, allowing Adell to score.
That was all the Angels got off Jax, who worked a second strong outing after throwing five shutout innings last Sunday in Miami, continuing his impressive on-the-fly transition from reliever to starter that began in late April.
Jax threw only 63 pitches Saturday and was in position to work into the sixth inning, but said he was hampered by a blister on a finger on his pitching hand and didn't want to risk it becoming a bigger issue.
Instead, he watched as the bullpen let the game get away quickly.
"Everyone's going through it, everyone's working on stuff," Jax told reporters in the Rays clubhouse. "It's just one of those nights. The team we're facing, they're swinging it really well right now."
Cleavinger struck out former Ray Jose Siri to start the inning, but then allowed a ground-ball single to Adell that just escaped the grasp of a diving Walls, followed by another to Schanuel.
Cash next turned to Kimbrel, the 38-year-old signed in late May as a free agent after being designated for assignment by the Mets, for whom he had a 6.00 ERA over 14 games.
Kimbrel made one solid outing for the Rays on May 26 in Baltimore, then a few days later went on the injured list with a right wrist strain. He was activated earlier Saturday.
Kimbrel threw a wild pitch that allowed the runners to move up to second and third before striking out Oswald Peraza. He was ahead of Denzer Guzman 1-2 and a strike from getting out of the inning, but allowed a soft blooper - clocked at 70.3 mph off the bat - that dropped in shallow left-center to score two.
"It's baseball; sometimes you get that close," Kimbrel said. "It's a situation there, obviously, I was coming in to get the punch-out. ...
"I felt like i put myself in the situation to get out of that and just didn't make the pitch at the time to do so. They put together some good at-bats. That was the big part of the game. ... Sometimes it doesn't go your way and you've got to kind of wash your hands (of) it and come back tomorrow, and tomorrow it'll probably work out."
Guzman promptly stole second, and Donovan Walton doubled to right to extend the lead to 4-0.
The Angels added four more in the the seventh. Sulser allowed a leadoff single to Zach Neto, then a one-out homer to Siri. It got worse, as he gave up a single to Adell and a walk to Schanuel, then two-out RBI singles to Guzman and Walton.
The Rays did very little offensively, held to five singles by Angels starter Jose Soriano and relievers Samy Natera Jr., Brent Suter and Kirby Yates, another former Ray.
The Rays got Yandy Diaz to third base in the first after he led off with a walk, extending his on-base streak to 26 games, the longest active in the majors and third longest of his career. He moved up on a pair of groundouts, but got no further as Junior Caminero struck out for the first of three times.
They had a better chance in the fourth with two on and one out, but Richie Palacios struck out and Victor Mesa Jr. grounded out.
Notes
Kimbrel was sidelined three days after his May 26 Rays debut by a right wrist strain, but started feeling better after a few days of rest. He threw to hitters on Tuesday at Tropicana Field and was deemed ready enough to not need a minor-league rehab outing.
The Rays signed Kimbrel as a free agent after he was designated for assignment by the Mets with the expectation he can provide depth and experience to their bullpen, and he worked a scoreless inning on May 26 at Baltimore.
To make room on the active roster, the Rays optioned right-hander Mason Englert to Triple-A Durham. Englert worked four scoreless innings to finish Friday's game against the Angels after working five, allowing one run, on June 3 following his latest call-up. He is expected to return to starting duty with Durham.
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This story was originally published June 14, 2026 at 1:18 AM.