CHICAGO -- Over the last three days at Guaranteed Rate Field, the Rays lost ace Tyler Glasnow to a likely season-ending injury, their first series in more than a month and ownership of the best record in the Majors. They knew facing the American League Central-leading White Sox on the road would make for a tough, highly competitive series -- and it lived up to the billing.

Tampa Bay dropped the hard-fought series finale, 8-7, in 10 innings, despite coming back from deficits of 4-0 and 7-2. The Rays left the Windy City on Wednesday night after their first series defeat since losing two of three to the Yankees at Tropicana Field from May 11-13, and they swapped places with the White Sox in the AL standings. The Sox now hold the top spot by a narrow margin, improving to 43-25 while the Rays fell to 43-26.

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“They're a really good team. I think we're kind of set up the same way with very good pitching and good defense,” Rays outfielder Manuel Margot said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “We've just got to go out there and just stay positive. We’ve got to go out there and turn the page. It's good to see them and learn from them and keep on going and take the positives of it.”

The final few innings provided plenty of silver linings, from the spirit of yet another comeback to the quality at-bats up and down the lineup to the slider-heavy ninth inning from Diego Castillo. However, the Rays came up frustratingly short.

Facing reliever Pete Fairbanks in the 10th inning, José Abreu pushed automatic runner Andrew Vaughn to third base with a groundout, then Yasmani Grandal pulled a slider -- the fourth one Fairbanks threw in a five-pitch sequence -- off the right-field wall for a walk-off single. Fairbanks said afterward he felt fine physically, but he was critical of himself for getting away from his strengths in his pitch selection.

“Throwing too many sliders,” Fairbanks said. “Being soft and throwing way too many offspeed pitches instead of attacking people. Comes down to that. If I want to attack people, I'll be good. If I don't want to attack, I won't be.

“Anytime you kind of ruin a really good effort sucks. But hats off to our offense for staying in it after being down 7-2, putting together a lot of good ABs in the back half of the game.”

After Ryan Yarbrough traded zeroes with Chicago right-hander Lucas Giolito for three innings, the start of what seemed destined to be a pitchers’ duel between two of the best run-prevention teams in baseball this season, the White Sox got to Yarbrough for seven runs between the fourth and fifth innings. Abreu hit a two-run homer off Yarbrough to open the scoring, then the Sox capitalized on a walk and two well-placed bloop singles to build up a four-run lead.

The Rays climbed back into the game, however, as Kevin Kiermaier doubled in two runs off Giolito in the fifth. But the White Sox took advantage of a rare misplay in the Rays’ infield to score three runs right after that. Tim Anderson hit a leadoff double and scored when Yandy Díaz made a wild throw on Brian Goodwin’s bunt, and Goodwin then scored on a single to left by Vaughn. Jake Lamb capped the rally with a two-out RBI single to right.

“There's a couple balls that were barreled up, and then there were a couple balls that found grass,” manager Kevin Cash said. “It seemed like every time they put a ball in play, it was landing where we were not. And they just kind of piled on runs there between two innings.”

But the Rays, as usual, wouldn’t go down without a fight. That has become one of their defining traits this season, as they’ve pulled off 19 come-from-behind wins -- second most in the Majors.

Díaz hit his second home run of the season off Giolito in the sixth, and Mike Zunino launched a two-run homer to left off reliever Codi Heuer in the seventh. Then it was Tampa Bay’s turn to capitalize on a mistake in the field, as pinch-hitter Mike Brosseau reached on an error by second baseman Danny Mendick and eventually came around to score when Díaz beat out a potential double-play grounder.

The Rays then deftly deployed their entire bench, as pinch-runner Brett Phillips hustled to score from first base on Margot’s game-tying two-out double off reliever Evan Marshall.

“I think we did a tremendous job having great at-bats throughout the entire game, making adjustments when we needed to,” Margot said.

The Rays weren’t pleased with the final outcome, obviously, but after a few discouraging days -- losing Glasnow, getting shut out, falling behind early -- they did show the fight that has made them so successful so far this season.

“Certainly with what's gone on here the last couple days and the frustrations, the guys stayed at it,” Cash said. “We had a bunch of just really big at-bats. Manny's was probably the biggest there to tie it, and Philly's baserunning. But [I'm] encouraged and overall impressed with the way the guys were able to get back in the game and then ultimately tie it.”