ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays’ bullpen has been the best in the American League this season, statistically. It has been the best group in the Majors over the last 3 1/2 weeks. It has been, as veteran starter Rich Hill put it Sunday morning, the “backbone of the team.”

The Rays have grown accustomed to seeing their bullpen preserve late leads and keep early deficits small enough for their lineup to come back in games.

So it was a rare occasion Sunday afternoon when Tampa Bay’s relief corps faltered in the final innings of a 6-4 loss to the Angels at Tropicana Field.

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Granted a two-run lead by Ji-Man Choi’s three-run homer in the sixth inning, the Rays allowed two runs in the seventh, another in the eighth and one more in the ninth as their four-game winning streak came to an end and they fell out of first place in the AL East.

“We understand that good teams, good bullpens, good lineups go quiet at times, and you chalk it up as one of those days. I'll take this bullpen over any bullpen in the Major Leagues,” Rays catcher Mike Zunino said. “That's why you play 162. Sometimes you come up and stuff doesn't work out your way, but [we] have full confidence in them, and I know those guys will be itching to get back on the mound come Tuesday.”

Left-hander Ryan Yarbrough held the Angels to two runs in six innings and left in line for the win after Choi crushed a go-ahead homer off right-hander Mike Mayers. Manager Kevin Cash then put the game in the hands of his relievers, as safe a place as any given the group’s success since late April.

“They've set a pretty high standard for themselves. Today the Angels, they put together some big at-bats at the right time,” Cash said. “Our bullpen's really tough. It'll be nice to get an off-day [on Monday] and try to freshen them all up.”

Tampa Bay had been 32-4 this season when leading after six innings, and only nine outs stood between the Rays and a season sweep of the Angels.

But Taylor Ward greeted right-hander Ryan Thompson with a leadoff double to left-center and scored on Juan Lagares’ double. The 10-pitch at-bat with Lagares was particularly frustrating, as Thompson was ahead in the count, 1-2, before Lagares fouled off five of Thompson’s next six pitches. It finally ended when Thompson threw a slider away from Lagares, who pulled it to left field to make it a one-run game.

“My slider just isn't really doing it lately,” said Thompson, who has been one of the bullpen’s top arms, with a 2.38 ERA in 36 appearances. “I don't know if they're sitting on my slider or what the deal is, but the past week or two, it just hasn't been working how it has in the past. So they're adapting faster than I am, and these are the results.”

Thompson recorded the second out of the inning then gave way to left-hander Jeffrey Springs, brought in to face two-way star Shohei Ohtani.

The Rays could have intentionally walked Ohtani, but then they would have had to let either Thompson or Springs face Anthony Rendon with the go-ahead run at first base.

But Ohtani makes every decision that much more difficult. Even without seeing him pitch this series, the Rays witnessed every other aspect of his generational talent.

Having already scored one run (with a walk and a stolen base) and driven in another (on a double off the wall), Ohtani tormented the Rays again in the seventh by pulling an RBI triple to right field off Springs to tie the game.

“We've been pretty good this whole year, so to come in in those positions, we typically lock it in,” Thompson said. “I think the whole team kind of, right when the bullpen comes in there with the lead, we can be like, 'Yes, this is what we're looking for.' That's what the staff's looking for. It's what our team is looking for. So for us to come in and blow it, it's not ideal.”

In the eighth, the Rays turned to Matt Wisler, who had allowed all of one hit and one walk while striking out nine in seven appearances since joining the Rays. The slider-heavy righty immediately served up a solo homer to utility man Phil Gosselin, giving the Angels a one-run lead.

“Anytime hitters give us a lead like that, we feel like we're going to shut it down,” Springs said. “It doesn't matter who's in there, we've got a lot of trust in everybody that runs out there. It sucks. We got the lead, and we're expected to hold it. We take a lot of pride in that. We just didn't get it done today.”

But Ohtani still wasn’t done, as he launched an opposite-field homer off right-hander Pete Fairbanks in the ninth. Ohtani taking a Fairbanks fastball deep was even more unusual than the Rays bullpen letting a lead go to waste. Consider: Fairbanks had thrown 356 fastballs to left-handed hitters in his Major League career, including the postseason, without giving up a home run on the pitch. Ohtani changed that with his 25th homer, capping a day in which he drove in three runs and finished a single shy of the cycle.

“He's special. There's no hiding his ability, his talent,” Zunino said. “Being able to see him three days in a row, hitting-wise, is impressive, then knowing every fifth or sixth day he's on the mound throwing 100 [mph]. An unbelievable talent.”