Rays Bullpen Unravels in Extras After Jax's Efficient Five Innings

Griffin Jax left Toronto with a clean line and a tied game. Five innings, four hits, no runs, four walks, 66 pitches. The question Kevin Cash faced after the fifth was whether that last number — 66 — justified pulling a starter who had just finished scoreless and hadn't allowed a run.

The 13.2 pitches per inning told one story: Jax was working efficiently, averaging fewer pitches per frame than most starters need to get through a lineup once. At 66 pitches through five, another inning or two was physically available to him. But four walks in five innings told something else — a control pattern that could unravel quickly against a Toronto lineup that had already shown patience.

Cash handed the ball to Tampa Bay reliever Hunter Bigge to open the sixth, and Bigge answered cleanly: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lined out to center, Kazuma Okamoto flew out to center, and Daulton Varsho flew out to left. Three up, three down.

The Rays broke the scoreless tie in the top of the seventh when Tampa Bay second baseman Richie Palacios lined a single to center fielder Daulton Varsho, scoring Jonathan Aranda and sending Jake Fraley to second. Tampa Bay led 1-0.

Reliever Garrett Cleavinger got a strikeout to open the bottom of the seventh but allowed a sharp single to Ernie Clement and hit Andrés Giménez to put two runners on. Kevin Kelly entered and induced Lenyn Sosa into a line-drive double play — shortstop Taylor Walls to second baseman Palacios — to strand both runners.

Bryan Baker came on for the eighth and promptly walked George Springer, Yohendrick Piñango, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to load the bases without recording an out. Kazuma Okamoto's sacrifice fly to left fielder Chandler Simpson scored Springer to tie it 1-1. Baker struck out Varsho but then walked Myles Straw to reload the bases before Cole Sulser came on to end the inning on a flyout. Baker's line: 0.2 innings, four walks, one run.

Sulser worked through the remainder of the eighth and a clean ninth — four batters, four outs, no damage.

Extra innings arrived with a ghost runner. In the top of the tenth, Tampa Bay's Ben Williamson singled on a ground ball to center fielder Varsho, scoring Chandler Simpson to put the Rays ahead 2-1. Yandy Díaz then lined a single to center, scoring Williamson to make it 3-1. Tampa Bay was two outs away from a win.

Aaron Brooks entered for the bottom of the tenth and got Piñango to pop out. Then he walked Guerrero Jr. and Okamoto to load the bases, with the automatic runner George Springer already at third. Varsho stepped in and hit his fifth grand slam of the season to left field, scoring Springer, Guerrero Jr., and Okamoto. Toronto 5, Tampa Bay 3. Walk-off. Brooks's line: 0.1 innings, one hit, four runs, two walks, one home run, 17 pitches.

Jax threw 66 pitches over five clean innings and walked four batters. He was efficient by count and a concern by command. Was the hook at five innings the right read — or did the low pitch total mean he had enough left to strand whatever trouble he might have created himself?