ST. PETERSBURG -- Over the last five months, the Rays have come to expect two things from every Nick Martinez start: he’s going to pitch most of the game, and he’s going to give them a chance to win.
He’s worked at least five innings in 21 starts this season. He’s allowed three runs or fewer 20 times. And the Rays have come out on top in 18 of his 24 outings, including his second career complete game against the A’s last week.
That made Tuesday night’s series opener against the Blue Jays a rare exception to the rule for Martinez, who gave up six runs on nine hits while working only 3 2/3 innings as the Rays allowed a season-high 17 hits in a 10-5 loss to the Jays at Tropicana Field.
“I think Nick was off a tick and just couldn't quite right himself, for whatever reason,” manager Kevin Cash said. “He's been so good for us and confident -- very confident -- he'll bounce right back. Just one of those days.”
The Rays lost for the fourth time in their last five games, ensuring a losing homestand on the heels of an unbeaten nine-game trip out west. Their lead atop the American League standings fell back to five games with 37 remaining.
Martinez seemed like the right man to have on the mound a night after Tampa Bay deployed five key relievers following Shane McClanahan’s abbreviated return from the injured list. Martinez has pitched at least six innings 13 times this season, and he was working on six days’ rest following his 101-pitch effort in West Sacramento a week ago.
But he was off from the start against the streaking Blue Jays -- who have won 13 of their last 19 games -- despite saying he felt fine mentally and physically and got through his pregame routine feeling like his normal self.
Sometimes, the truest explanation is the simplest one.
“One of those nights,” Martinez said. “I felt like my execution was, for the most part, there today. It was just one of those days where they battled.”
In the first inning, Martinez gave up two runs on three straight two-out hits. He allowed two more in the third on Alejandro Kirk’s homer to left-center, and the Jays tacked on two more in the fourth on another run-scoring hit by Kirk and a wild pitch.
That was his third wild pitch of the night, oddly -- one more than he had in his first 138 innings this season -- and all three came on changeups.
“Those are nightmares to block,” Martinez said. “It's a crapshoot if they bounce before the plate, and that's on me.”
After walking Springer with two outs in the fourth, Martinez was lifted in favor of left-hander Steven Matz. The six runs and nine hits he allowed both tied his season-high marks, and it was only the fourth time this season he walked multiple batters in an outing. In the end, it was his shortest start since going 2 2/3 innings for the Reds on Aug. 15, 2025.
It was that kind of night for the Rays, who failed to record a 1-2-3 inning for just the fifth time this season and the first time since May 8 in Boston.
“They were scrappy, man,” Martinez said. “Bad day to be a pitcher.”
The Rays had chances to rally back. They picked up 13 hits, although they were all singles -- the second time in franchise history (also Sept. 2, 1999) that Tampa Bay has recorded at least 13 hits without any of them going for extra bases. That got them on base plenty, but they came up short in key moments.
In the third inning, Tampa Bay loaded the bases with one out against starter José Soriano, but Toronto’s Trade Deadline pickup got Jonathan Aranda to hit into an inning-ending double play. The Rays scratched across three runs in the fourth, but whiffed on another opportunity in the fifth when Liam Hicks grounded into a double play with two on and one out.
“I think the way the hitters in this clubhouse are, if we just keep doing that, we're going to eventually drive them in,” Hicks said. “It's not something that's going to last for a long time.”
Right-hander Jesse Scholtens provided some relief for a Rays bullpen that had to cover 22 of the team’s 37 innings against the Orioles the past four days. After Matz gave up two runs in the fifth, Scholtens pitched the final four innings, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk.
“We've been chewed up early in the ballgame. We're not able to get deep, and the bullpen's taxed a little bit,” Cash said. “Really appreciate Scholtens' efforts right there to keep guys from having to come in to pitch.”