Rays' 7-game win streak snapped as Seymour struggles in bulk relief role

TAMPA -- The Rays had their reasons for switching up their pitching plans on Friday night and slotting reliever Griffin Jax ahead of starter Ian Seymour, their first traditional use of an opener all season.

Pitching coach Kyle Snyder noted the first-inning assignment would be “a little bit of a softer landing” for Jax, a former starter with dynamic stuff who has struggled to find consistent success since joining the Rays at the Trade Deadline.

They also thought running out a hard-throwing right-hander before a slower-tossing lefty would force the Guardians to make some difficult decisions with their always-flexible lineup and present two wildly different looks for Cleveland’s hitters.

And they trusted Seymour, who worked as a reliever before moving into the Rays rotation last month, to handle the slightly altered schedule and produce like he did in his first two Major League starts.

As manager Kevin Cash put it simply before the game: “Let’s see what we can do to maximize our matchups to make the most of winning this game tonight.”

Jax got through the first inning unscathed, but nothing went according to plan when Seymour took the mound in the second. The rookie left-hander gave up five runs (one earned) on five hits, a walk, a hit batter and a fielding error, putting the Rays in an early hole they couldn’t escape in a 7-1 loss at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

“You just have to come in ready to go and have your rhythm from the get-go or you're gonna get burned,” Seymour said. “And that's just not something I was capable of doing tonight.”

It was the Rays’ first defeat since a series-ending loss in Cleveland on Aug. 27, snapping a season-long seven-game winning streak.

Seattle also lost on Friday night, so the Rays (71-70) remained two games behind the Mariners (73-69) for the final American League Wild Card spot while the Guardians (70-70) pulled within 2 1/2 games.

If nothing else, Friday’s defeat put the Rays’ winning streak into perspective. It seemed like they were doing everything right for a week, combining clean defense and quality pitching with enough offense to sweep the Nationals and Mariners before taking Thursday’s series opener against the Guardians.

They couldn’t maintain that in any phase of the game on Friday night.

“I think if we go 7-1 for the rest of the games we have, we'll be in a good spot,” right fielder Josh Lowe said. “So we'll show up ready to go tomorrow, expect to win and play hard.”

The Rays managed to get 10 runners on base against Cleveland starter Gavin Williams, but their lone run came on Junior Caminero’s 41st homer of the season in the sixth inning, ending a seven-game run in which they scored at least four runs in every game. While they only struck out five times on the night, they finished 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

“He's got really good stuff,” Cash said of Williams. “He was on attack all night long, and he kept us pretty quiet.”

With their lineup finally throttled, the game essentially came down to Seymour’s five-run second inning. Jax did his part in his first outing as an opener, which was his first Major League start since Oct. 2, 2021, the last game of his 14-start rookie season with the Twins, and worked around a pair of hits in a scoreless inning.

“Stuff looked very in line with what we've seen, so happy about that,” Cash said of Jax.

After working as a starter in his last two appearances, Seymour learned Thursday night he would pitch after an opener. He said that didn’t affect his performance, though.

“I've found rhythm out of the bullpen plenty of times this year,” Seymour said. “It's just not something that I had today.”

Seymour's outing started off poorly, as he made an error on a bunt by Gabriel Arias to put the leadoff runner on base. He hit No. 8-hitting Brayan Rocchio with a first-pitch cutter, then walked .150-hitting catcher Austin Hedges after getting ahead in the count. That sequence bothered Seymour more than any of the hits that followed.

“You just can't walk the nine hitter in that situation,” he said. “It's probably a different story if I just execute with two strikes in that at-bat.”

The lineup turned over, and the Guardians made him pay. Steven Kwan knocked a two-run single to center, then José Ramírez smacked a two-out, two-run double before David Fry finished the rally with an RBI single.

“If you just don't put guys on base that are the seven through nine hitters, then … there's no one on base when those guys adjust to you,” Seymour said. “I got burned by not executing against the bottom of the lineup.”