BALTIMORE -- Griffin Jax was hit directly in the lower back by a 107.2 mph line drive in the second inning Tuesday night at Camden Yards, which was only part of a painful and frustrating game for the Rays.
Jax exited his start after two innings due to a back contusion, and the Rays committed three errors as they gave up six unearned runs in a 6-1 loss to the Orioles, their season-high-tying third straight defeat. Tuesday’s loss guaranteed Tampa Bay’s first series defeat in more than a month, as the club hadn’t dropped a set since losing two of three against the Reds on April 20-22.
But there was some good news: Jax’s status is day to day, but he said he is “100% confident” that he will be able to make his next scheduled start.
“Arm feels great. Body feels great. Just going through some basic movements, don't feel too limited,” Jax said. “It's all in all scary, but I think it was a safe place to be hit.”
The second inning got off to an aggravating start for Jax, as he couldn’t corral a grounder from Samuel Basallo on a play he said he should be able to make. Then Leody Taveras smoked a comebacker that bounced off the right side of Jax’s lower back, around the bottom of the numbers on his jersey, and rolled around the infield.
Jax went down in obvious pain but threw a warmup pitch and remained in the game after being checked on by manager Kevin Cash and head athletic trainer Joe Benge. Jax said he needed a moment to regain his composure and breathe, but he felt like he could keep pitching as long as the adrenaline was surging through his body.
“Jax is a tough dude to stay in the game like that,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said.
But as the inning went on, Jax felt his back tighten up after every pitch. He relayed that to pitching coach Kyle Snyder during a mound visit.
“I was just like, ‘I've got to try to get through this inning, because if I take a minute, it's going to be a little bit too tight,’” Jax said.
The inning didn’t get any less frustrating, though. Jeremiah Jackson hit a single to left field that loaded the bases. With one out, Jax got Blaze Alexander to hit a grounder up the middle, which second baseman Richie Palacios would have converted into an inning-ending double play … except it took a bad bounce off second base, and Palacios couldn’t secure the ball.
“It was on my body, just didn't know where it was,” Palacios said. “I tried to pick it up and wasn't able to do that. So it was a tough play. Weird play.”
Basallo scored on that play, then two more runs scored on a single by Jackson Holliday and a sacrifice fly by Taylor Ward. Jax retired Gunnar Henderson to finish the inning but didn’t return to the mound in the third.
The Rays didn’t want to risk further injury to Jax, especially considering how careful they’ve been with his workload transitioning from the bullpen to the rotation. After his early exit, lefty Garrett Cleavinger, right-hander Trevor Martin and new addition Craig Kimbrel handled the rest of the game.
“I think the call was just to make sure this didn't bleed into anything else, make sure it didn't affect mechanics, and affect a shoulder or lat or something like that and end up being more serious than it was,” Jax said.
Meanwhile, former Rays starter Shane Baz put together another brilliant outing against his old teammates, leaning heavily on his curveball as he struck out nine while allowing just one run over seven innings. And the Orioles capitalized on another Rays error in their second three-run inning of the night.
With one out and a runner on first in the fifth, Henderson hit a routine grounder that Palacios fielded and threw to shortstop Oliver Dunn, starting in place of Taylor Walls, who was a late scratch due to a tight hamstring.
Dunn appeared to record the forceout at second, but the Orioles challenged the call, noticing that Dunn took his foot off the bag. Dunn was charged with an error, and the Orioles capitalized two batters later when Basallo swatted a three-run homer to right-center.
As well as the Rays have been playing overall, errors have been an issue. They committed four in Monday’s loss and three more on Tuesday, giving them 39 on the year, second-most in the Majors.
“We've just got to focus, make sure we just stay locked in on our stuff, also not trying to overcompensate,” Palacios said. “We're human. We're gonna make errors. Don't try to overcompensate. … Just continue to play the game. We'll be all right.”