Despite a sixth-inning rally, the Rays dropped their second consecutive game to the Nationals, 5-3, on Tuesday at Nationals Park. The loss wrapped up the first series defeat for Tampa Bay since a three-game sweep at Baltimore on Aug. 2.

With Charlie Morton tossing five innings on Monday and Ryan Yarbrough returning to the mound on Tuesday after a stint on the injured list, the Rays are getting closer to having their five-man starting rotation at full strength.

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The first outing back, however, didn’t go as planned for Yarbrough. The left-hander allowed four runs on six hits over 2 2/3 innings in the loss and didn’t have much command of any of his four pitches. He walked one and hit two batters, giving him a team-high six hit batsmen this season.

“I don’t think he had his best command,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash. “They drove his pitch count way up. They didn’t knock the cover off the ball, but he just didn’t look like himself with the command issues and falling behind. He just wasn’t having a feel for all of his pitches.”

Yarbrough got just two swings and misses on 25 sinkers and didn’t have command of his go-to cutter. Of the 22 cutters he threw, he got just two swinging strikes and, more surprisingly, just two called strikes. Both hit batsmen also came on the cutter.

“It was just a matter of getting some feel, especially the cutter,” Yarbrough said. “It’s definitely something, over these next couple of days, that I’m going to emphasize. But as a whole, just attacking guys and not trying to do too much.”

A couple positives for Yarbrough were the fact that he threw 70 pitches, which bodes well for his next start, and that the Nationals’ offense had just two hard-hit balls against him.

“I think he battled,” said Rays catcher Michael Perez. “I think he missed his spots a bit, but I think he’ll be fine. He’s a tremendous pitcher.”

As Yarbrough struggled on the mound, the Tampa Bay offense also had a tough time against Nationals starter Aníbal Sánchez. The Rays didn’t have many opportunities in the first five innings, striking out six times in those frames.

In the sixth, they were able to push three runs across off Sánchez and reliever Wander Suero. Ji-Man Choi and Yoshi Tsutsugo delivered RBI hits, but a Perez flyout stranded the tying run at third.

“He was locating the ball well, mixing the pitches really good,” shortstop Willy Adames said of Sánchez. “When a pitcher is doing that, you have to [give him] a tip of the cap. He was mixing the pitches really good and obviously he threw [five-plus] innings. We have to be better next time and come back with a fresh mind and start winning again.”

The offensive struggles continued for Brandon Lowe and Austin Meadows, who went a combined 1-for-9 with seven strikeouts. Meadows is now hitless in his last 17 at-bats and is 2-for-his-last 29 with 12 strikeouts. Lowe is also 2-for-his-last 29.

“Some nights, some days, some series, you have a bunch of guys seeing the ball really well and putting up good at-bat after good at-bat and hitting the ball hard,” Cash said. “Right now, in these last two nights, we just couldn’t find any rhythm, any consistency from our lineup. You have a handful of guys that are not being themselves for whatever reason. They’re searching for it and that’s going to happen over the course of any season.”