Morel (2 HRs) leads bottom of the order in unusual Rays slugfest

TAMPA -- The Rays’ pitching has been so consistently dominant lately that they haven’t had to win many slugfests. But they found themselves in a wild one Saturday afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field, and they knew it early on.

When manager Kevin Cash went out to the mound for a pitching change, he said, catcher Danny Jansen told him, “This is going to be one of those wild, high-scoring games.” And it was.

Within the first three innings, the Rays gained and lost a four-run lead. Between the fifth and the seventh, they fell behind by four and erased that deficit. In the end, the Rays lost for only the fourth time in their last 17 games, dropping an 11-10 decision to the Marlins in 10 innings.

The Rays were defeated when scoring double-digit runs for the first time since Aug. 7, 2010, a 17-11 loss in Toronto. They had won each of their 147 games since when they put up at least 10 runs, the fourth-longest such streak all-time behind the Yankees (227 straight from 1973-93), Dodgers (178 from 2006-22) and Cardinals (173 and counting since 2010).

“Just kind of had a feeling, from the first couple innings, that it was going to kind of be a shootout,” shortstop Taylor Walls said. “And which team could score last was going to win.”

Rays starting pitcher Taj Bradley had an off day, giving up seven runs on six hits over four-plus innings. He noted that his pitches “weren't as effective as they should be.” Reliever Mason Montgomery also struggled, allowing three runs on five hits in the fifth. It snapped a streak of 17 straight games in which the Rays had allowed four runs or fewer.

If there was a silver lining from Saturday, aside from the pregame festivities honoring franchise icon Evan Longoria’s retirement with the Rays, it was the unexpected offensive outburst from the bottom of the order.

Tampa Bay’s 7-8-9 hitters went a combined 8-for-13 with four homers, three doubles and nine RBIs. Christopher Morel, Jansen and Walls set club records for the most extra-base hits (seven), homers and total bases (23) from the bottom third of the lineup. They matched a club record for most RBIs from those spots.

“Both offenses, just the stars kind of aligned. Throughout the lineup, hitters seemed to see it well today and be on time,” Walls said. “You don't see it often. But, yeah, I just guess today was one of those days.”

The Rays jumped out to a four-run lead in the second inning, thanks to the bottom of their lineup. Morel slugged a three-run homer to left field off lefty Ryan Weathers, the Rays’ longest homer of the season at 438 feet and the second-longest home run hit at Steinbrenner Field this season. At 113.5 mph, it was the fifth-hardest-hit ball by a Rays batter this season.

“It felt very good,” Morel said through interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. “Especially in that moment where the team needed some runs, it felt very good.”

Morel finished 3-for-3 with two homers and a double, his first career game with three or more extra-base hits and only his second multihomer game in the Majors. It was a welcome development for Morel, who has ceded playing time to other outfielders while not producing as expected after joining the Rays as the headliner of the Isaac Paredes trade with the Cubs.

“It was a really good day for him -- minus not winning the game, reason for him to smile,” Cash said. “He's been grinding through it a little bit and not getting the most consistent playing time. But today, certainly, I think he had fun out there, got some really good swings off and showed his capabilities.”

Jansen finished 3-for-4 with a double, a homer and two RBIs. Walls added a double and a two-run homer, his seventh career game with multiple extra-base hits.

“This offense is doing some really good things, and I kind of expect that,” Cash said. “I think they expect that from themselves. We were down, there was a lot of game left and we had big at-bats to get right back into it.”

Brandon Lowe drove a hanging changeup from Anthony Bender out to center field for a game-tying home run in the seventh inning -- the first (and only) hit of the game by any Rays hitter outside the bottom third of the lineup.