ST. PETERSBURG -- One day after two dramatic late-inning rallies resulted in a thrilling walk-off win, the Rays again fell behind early on Saturday afternoon. But they couldn’t quite come all the way back this time in a 4-3 loss to the Tigers.

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Left-hander Ryan Yarbrough gave up four early runs before finding his groove, and the Rays scored three runs to put themselves in position for their 45th come-from-behind win of the year before a season-high crowd of 22,921 at Tropicana Field. But they went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, left a pair of men on base in the eighth inning, and saw a two-on, nobody-out situation in the ninth quickly fizzle out via a Brett Phillips strikeout and a double-play grounder hit by Yandy Díaz.

“We did put some pressure on there at the end, but you've got to credit Detroit's pitching,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Everybody they lined up really did a nice job against us.”

The Rays didn’t move any closer to officially clinching their second straight American League East title on Saturday, as their loss -- combined with wins by the Blue Jays and Red Sox -- left that official magic number at six. However, their magic number to secure a spot in the postseason dropped down to four due to the Yankees’ 11-3 loss to Cleveland.

The most positive development of the Rays’ ninth loss this month was the way Yarbrough bounced back after another rough start. The lefty admittedly felt some urgency to put together a better performance on Saturday after two ugly outings, and in this case, later was better than never.

Over his last two appearances, Yarbrough allowed 14 runs while recording only 13 outs; 22 of the 35 batters he faced in those appearances reached safely. Right out of the gates, it didn’t look like this one would go much better for the Rays’ innings leader.

With two outs in the first inning, Jeimer Candelario crushed a 1-0 cutter from Yarbrough off the batter’s eye for a three-run homer. Yarbrough wound up needing 23 pitches to finish that opening frame, and when he returned for the second, Dustin Garneau launched a 1-1 cutter out to left for a leadoff home run that gave the Tigers a four-run lead.

“It’s just one of those things where -- especially with how I’ve been throwing -- you're like, ‘OK, you've got to mix it up and change it up,’” Yarbrough said. “Finally made some adjustments talking with [catcher Mike Zunino], especially in between every inning, and really kind of getting a game plan and [knowing] how to use the changeup a little better. I feel like that paid dividends.”

Indeed, Yarbrough didn’t just settle in and survive after that. He shut down Detroit’s lineup and wound up leaving the Rays encouraged by his overall performance. After Garneau’s homer, Yarbrough retired 15 of 16 hitters, including the final 13 he faced.

“The frustration certainly could have mounted the way the last couple of games have gone, but he did a good job keeping his composure, keeping us in the ballgame,” Cash said. “He got the cutter going. He mixed in some more breaking balls. Three-run homers are tough to overcome, certainly in the first inning.”

As Yarbrough rediscovered his rhythm, the Rays rallied back to make it a one-run game thanks to a two-run homer by Jordan Luplow in the second and a run-scoring double-play grounder in the fourth by Ji-Man Choi. And Phillips, right fielder Manuel Margot and second baseman Brandon Lowe all made spectacular plays behind Yarbrough.

Yarbrough said the movement on his cutter, the pitch that turned out to be a problem in his last two outings, was “night-and-day” better this time out. He improved the use of his changeup, throwing it to get ahead in counts then forcing early contact once he had that leverage. Even his mislocated pitches improved, moving to the edges of the zone or outside of it rather than settling over the heart of the plate.

“Something to get some momentum off of,” Yarbrough said. “The stuff that I was able to kind of figure out with Zunino those last couple of innings, just the little things like that, I feel like are going to pay a lot of dividends and just kind of continue that momentum going forward.”

Those tweaks helped Yarbrough work quickly and efficiently, as he completed six innings with a pitch count of just 86. It still counted as a loss -- as he put the Rays in a hole they couldn’t hit their way out of -- but Yarbrough’s final line didn’t reflect how Tampa Bay feels about where he’s headed now.

“I think he did a tremendous job,” Margot said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “I know we fell behind early on, but he was able to keep them quiet for us to potentially come back.”