By As good as the Tampa Bay Rays have been all season, the Rays walked out of Camden Yards on Monday afternoon with one of their most frustrating losses of the 2026 season, losing to the Orioles 9-7 in 13 innings.
The Rays blew multiple extra-inning leads in the wild 9-7 defeat to the Baltimore Orioles in 13 innings.
The game started as a classic pitching duel between Shane McClanahan of the Rays and Kyle Bradish of the Orioles.
McClanahan was dominant for the Rays, holding Baltimore scoreless through 5.1 innings. McClanahan used his fastball command and slider effectively against a dangerous Orioles lineup that included Gunnar Henderson, Pete Alonso, and Colton Cowser.
Baltimore starter Bradish matched McClanahan pitch for pitch, inning for inning, through six innings.
Tampa struggled to string together any offense through the first half of the game, but finally broke through in the sixth inning.
Jonathan Aranda crushed a solo home run, his tenth of the year, to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead. At that point, it felt like the Rays were in good shape.
McClanahan had controlled the game, the bullpen was rested enough, and the Rays had a bit of momentum.
But the Orioles immediately answered, tying the game later in the inning, and from there the contest turned into complete chaos.
The Rays had numerous opportunities to put Baltimore away. In the 10th inning, the Rays loaded the bases but failed to cash in. That missed opportunity became enormous later in the game.
In the 11th inning, the Rays finally looked ready to finish the job. Victor Mesa Jr., just off the IR at Durham and appearing in his first major league game of the season, blasted a two-run homer to give Tampa a 4-2 lead.
It was a huge moment. It felt like the Rays had finally landed the knockout punch.
Instead, for one of the few times this season, the bullpen could not hold down the Orioles offense as Baltimore immediately punched back.
The Orioles answered before recording an out in the bottom half of the inning. Pete Alonso had an RBI single, Jeremiah Jackson followed with another RBI hit, and suddenly the game was tied again at 4-4.
Once again in the 12th inning, the Rays reclaimed the lead as Jonathan Aranda delivered a sacrifice fly, putting the Rays ahead 5-4. Once more, the Rays were three outs away.
And once again, the Orioles offense answered.
Baltimore tied the game again in the bottom of the inning after the Rays’ defensive mistakes and poor execution opened the door to tie the game 5-5.
The Rays would score two runs in the top half of the inning to take a 7-5 lead, and again, things were looking up for the Rays to get the win. Tampa Bay only needed three more outs.
Then came the bullpen implosion.
With runners on base, Leody Taveras ripped an RBI double to cut the deficit to 7-6. Jackson Holliday would tie the game 7-7 with a sacrifice fly.
Then the big blow. With a runner on base, Colton Cowser stepped in against Jesse Scholtens. Cowser had already hit a walk-off homer the day before against Detroit, and he would deliver again.
Scholtens left a pitch over the plate, and Cowser launched a two-run walk-off homer deep into the Baltimore afternoon sky. Game over. The Orioles win 9-7.
The loss was frustrating because the Rays actually did enough offensively to win and had the game won multiple times.
The defense and the bullpen let the team down in a 9-7 extra-inning loss.
Surprisingly, the Rays were unable to execute clean baseball late in the game. There were fielding miscues, questionable situational decisions, and moments where the Orioles simply looked sharper in pressure situations.
Offensively, Chandler Simpson had three hits and continued to be a spark plug at the top of the lineup. Jonathan Aranda homered and drove in key runs. Mesa Jr.’s homer should have been a game-winner. The Rays bullpen simply could not hold any lead late in the game.
This game exposed some cracks in the Rays. The bullpen depth suddenly looks shakier than it did earlier in the year. The defense was inconsistent under pressure. And most importantly, the Rays missed several opportunities to bury an opponent that refused to go away.
If the Rays want to be considered one of the best teams in baseball, they need to win that game. Good teams will usually win those games.
This was one of the wildest games of the season so far, and one the Rays would like to forget sooner rather than later.
