The Rangers gave the Rays plenty of chances to salvage a four-game split Thursday night at Tropicana Field, but in keeping with a theme of the series, Tampa Bay couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity.

The Rays had seven hits and eight walks, and the Rangers threw away the ball twice on one play to let Brett Phillips scramble home from second base on a wild, game-tying sequence in the seventh inning. Yet they could not come up with the timely hits they needed, finishing just 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position in a 6-4 loss in 10 innings at Tropicana Field.

“We're not making the most of the opportunities, and the opportunities have been tough to come by lately,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Even the ones that we do come by, we're just not making the most of them for whatever reason. We've just got some guys that are still kind of searching for that timing at the plate to do big things.”

Having lost the final three games of their four-game set against the Rangers, the Rays took their first series loss in St. Petersburg since dropping two of three to the Mariners from Aug.19-21, 2019. Since that series defeat, the Rays had been 12-0-4 in their previous 16 series at home.

But Thursday’s loss was emblematic of some of the issues they’ve experienced while losing eight of their last 11 games to fall three games below .500 for the first time since they were 37-40 the morning of June 25, 2018.

First and foremost, the Rays aren’t hitting enough. They found some offense on Thursday, as Mike Brosseau doubled and scored in the third inning then launched a two-run homer in the fourth to tie the game at three. Getting runners on base wasn’t the issue this time. Getting them home was.

Randy Arozarena and Brandon Lowe stranded runners on first and second in the third inning. Austin Meadows left two on in the eighth. In the ninth, Manuel Margot struck out, leaving runners on the corners and sending the game to extra innings.

“Give them credit. Their pitchers made great pitches throughout the series to us -- big pitches,” Cash said. “Anytime there was pressure, it seemed like they just got that much better, and we probably did a little bit of the opposite.”

Down a run after five, the Rays ran their way back into the game in the seventh inning after two walks by Rangers reliever Wes Benjamin. Phillips was nearly caught too far off second base to end the inning, but catcher Jose Trevino’s throw to second base sailed into the outfield and center fielder Leody Taveras’ throw bounced off Phillips as he slid into third. By the time Texas was done throwing the ball around, the Rays had tied the game.

As bizarre as Phillips’ game-tying play turned out to be, it might be more telling that the Rays only managed to score one run in the inning. They were up against a Rangers bullpen struggling to find the zone, as evidenced by the fact that they threw only 13 of 34 pitches for strikes that inning. The Rays worked four walks and benefitted from two errors … yet only managed one run.

“Ideally, you've got to find a way to get a couple more across,” Cash said. “Look, we were fortunate to even get that run. [Phillips] kind of got out in no man's land and they kind of threw the ball around.”

On the other side of the game, Rays starter Rich Hill gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks with two strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings, and the veteran lefty took the blame for giving up a two-run homer to Charlie Culberson in the fourth then not pitching deep into the game.

“This loss falls solely on me,” Hill said. “I didn't do a good job of getting us some length in the game and trying to preserve our bullpen, so that's what's tough about it.”

After all the Rays’ missed opportunities piled up, the Rangers capitalized on the first one they got in extras. With an automatic runner on second base in the 10th, left-hander Cody Reed left a slider up just enough for rookie Adolis García to send it out to right field.

Brosseau, Willy Adames and Yoshi Tsutsugo went down in order in the bottom of the 10th against Ian Kennedy, stranding Margot at second, and the Rays fell to 0-3 in extra-inning games this season. They have been tied or trailing at the end of 25 straight innings, beginning with the fourth inning of Tuesday’s game.

Between Solak’s two-out single in the fifth inning and Garcia’s homer with one out in the 10th, the Rays bullpen combined to allow only one hit. It was a step in the right direction for some important pitchers, sure. But the defending American League champions aren’t looking for silver linings.

“Yeah,” Cash said. “I mean, it's tough to be really encouraged with anything right now.”