BALTIMORE -- The Rays left Camden Yards on Wednesday night with an unfamiliar feeling.
For the first time all season, they were on the wrong end of a series sweep.
The Rays’ 11-2 defeat in the series finale was their third in a row against the Orioles and their fourth straight overall, their longest losing streak of the year. They are still atop the American League standings with a 34-19 record, but they were ready to turn the page and head home after a series that was frustrating in just about every way.
“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,” starter Steven Matz said. “We're in a good spot, and we're just gonna keep putting our best foot forward.”
On Monday, they wasted four leads in a 13-inning, 9-7 defeat. On Tuesday, a handful of defensive mistakes led to them allowing six unearned runs in a 6-1 loss. And on Wednesday, they never recovered after a rough first inning by Matz.
Matz allowed five runs on five hits and two walks while facing 10 batters and throwing 36 pitches in the opening frame, only the 10th five-run inning of his career and his first since April 10, 2022. He gave up another run on a pair of hits in the third, and his night was over after throwing 62 pitches in three innings.
“One of those outings where you're just out of whack. You're not commanding the ball. When you're in the zone, you're fat with it. And then you try to go to the edges, and you're out of the zone, you're walking guys,” Matz said. “It's just one of those outings you just scrap and you try to learn from and move forward.”
Matz looked sharp in his return to the rotation last week against the Orioles, as he worked four innings of one-run baseball following a brief stint on the injured list due to left elbow inflammation. But Baltimore’s lineup was all over him from the start this time, leaving him without anything to get through the first inning.
The Orioles’ first six hitters reached safely, with Gunnar Henderson going deep on a 1-1 changeup and Leody Taveras driving in another run on a single to right. Matz struck out Tyler O’Neill to end that streak, but Blaze Alexander tacked on a two-run single before Matz could get out of the inning.
“It looked like he was fighting himself a little bit,” manager Kevin Cash said. “The Orioles just had some good at-bats early on. They jumped on him in that first inning. Maybe he settled in, but that was a lot of pitches through three innings.”
Meanwhile, the Rays couldn’t get anything going offensively for the second straight night. After being stifled by former teammate Shane Baz on Tuesday, they were shut down by prospect Trey Gibson in the finale. Their best chance came in the third inning, when they loaded the bases with one out, but Yandy Díaz struck out and Henderson made a tremendous play from shortstop to retire Richie Palacios.
“It’s baseball, to be honest. We’re going to have ruts,” Palacios said. “When we're winning, we're driving those guys in. And then when we're in tough ruts like now is when we're not getting that big hit.”
Right-hander Hunter Bigge pitched one inning, and the Rays put the rest of the game in the hands of righty Jonathan Heasley, who was called up from Triple-A Durham earlier in the day and wound up allowing five runs over four innings in his first big league appearance since May 23, 2024, with the Orioles.
Just getting back to the Majors was an achievement for Heasley, who was released by the Royals at the end of Spring Training and found himself preparing to pitch for Olmecas de Tabasco in the Mexican Baseball League. Then the Rays came calling with an opportunity to pitch for Triple-A Durham, and Heasley was “absolutely” interested.
All this came after two seasons derailed by injuries -- first a nerve issue in his shoulder in 2024, then a stress reaction in his elbow in ‘25. That uncertainty had Heasley evaluating his options beyond baseball, but he got healthy, received a chance to prove it in the Royals’ system late last season and earned another opportunity this spring.
“Obviously would love to see a little bit better results out there, but at the end of the day, I think just kind of putting things in perspective and kind of remembering what it took to get here and just how much it means to get back out there,” an emotional Heasley said afterward. “For me there’s definitely some reward in that.”