Eflin's rare stumble digs too deep a hole for Rays

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays started their weekend series against the Guardians with a pair of dramatic walk-off victories, narrowly avoiding a meltdown on Friday night, then coming back in impressive fashion on Saturday afternoon.

But they dug too deep of a hole for any late-inning heroics to save them in Sunday afternoon’s series finale, missing out on a chance to secure their first series sweep since June 6-8.

Right-hander Zach Eflin struggled through his worst start of the season, an uncharacteristically inefficient outing against a pesky Cleveland lineup, and Tampa Bay was shut down by rookie starter Tanner Bibee in a 9-2 loss before a crowd of 22,163 at Tropicana Field.

Eflin, a model of dependability and efficiency in his first year with the Rays, allowed a season-high six runs on nine hits while throwing 82 pitches in only three innings, matching his shortest start of the season.

“Location was pretty … poor. I was falling behind a lot of guys, putting myself in a hole early in the count,” Eflin said. “It wasn't a good representation of the pitcher that I am, but it happens. Any mistake I made, they pretty much put it in play and found a hole. They were playing good baseball. I wasn't. So move on to the next one.”

Guardians leadoff man Steven Kwan set the tone in the first at-bat, fouling off six balls and forcing the typically economical Eflin to throw 10 pitches to record his first out. Eflin wound up throwing 27 pitches in the first inning, 26 in the second and 29 in the third.

For the sake of comparison, Eflin has completed at least six innings in 15 of his 23 outings this season and thrown 82 pitches or fewer in four. But Cleveland made him work, and it capitalized on the pitches he left over the plate, with Andrés Giménez taking him deep following Kwan’s lengthy leadoff at-bat and Gabriel Arias blasting a two-run shot to left-center in the second.

“They definitely were kind of in attack mode. I think you can do your homework on Zach. You know he's going to be around the zone a lot, and it looked like the Guardians were prepared for that,” manager Kevin Cash said. “I don't think Zach had maybe his sharpest finish to some of his pitches today, and it just kind of added up and snowballed, and they put a bunch of runs on us pretty quick.”

It was especially stunning to see it happen at The Trop, where Eflin has been virtually untouchable. The right-hander entered the day with a 10-2 record and 2.49 ERA in 13 starts at home this season. He’d been on a good run lately, too, allowing one or zero runs in three of his past four starts while racking up 24 strikeouts with only two walks.

“Their guy is having a really good year, and we didn’t let him settle in. I think so often with good pitchers, if you let them off the hook, you see them out there about six innings later,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “But we got him early, and we stayed after him.”

Eflin also said he felt “great” physically, which was somewhat ironic. He didn’t think he was at his best on Tuesday, and he wound up allowing just one run with eight strikeouts over seven innings in a 4-2 win over the Cardinals. Sunday afternoon was the exact opposite.

“A lot of them were just fighting stuff off, and anything they put in play found a hole. Kind of just one of those days,” Eflin said. “It's funny how this game is. Last outing, I don't feel great and I pitch well. This outing, I feel great and I don't pitch well. But that's the game that we play.

“It sucks to lose the last one, but we won the series, and I think we're all in good spirits heading into San Francisco.”

With the bullpen forced into action earlier than expected, lefty reliever Jake Diekman allowed three runs on five hits while recording five outs. Kevin Kelly, Colin Poche, Robert Stephenson and Jason Adam held the Guardians scoreless after that, but Tampa Bay went down quietly against Bibee, who permitted two runs on seven hits over seven strong innings.

The lone highlight came courtesy of rookie shortstop Osleivis Basabe, called up Sunday morning to make his Major League debut. Tampa Bay’s No. 6 prospect swung at the first pitch he saw in the third inning, bounced it to left field and raced to second for a double, then scored his first run on a single by Yandy Díaz.

“It's incredible,” Basabe said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “It's something I wanted to accomplish ever since I was a kid, and there really [aren't] any words I can say.”