Diamondbacks Fail to Close Out the Rays, Fall in Extra Innings

The Diamondbacks looked to be in control of the game, but for the second straight night a late lead slipped away in an extra-inning loss to the Rays.

Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Corbin Burnes throws to the Tampa Bay Rays in the first inning at Chase Field in Phoenix, on Apr. 24, 2025. / Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Arizona Diamondbacks fell to the Tampa Bay Rays 7-4 in 10 innings at Chase Field. For the second straight night, they let a late lead slip away before falling in extra innings.

The Diamondbacks quickly jumped Rays starter Drew Rasmussen. They scored three runs in the first two innings to take a 3-0 lead. Josh Naylor had an RBI single in the first and Alek Thomas an RBI double in the second.

After some early fireworks, the offense went quiet for the rest of the game. They had only two hits in the final eight innings of the game, one of them being a Tim Tawa home run in the fifth that made it 4-1. It was Tawa's fourth home run of the year, which leads all major league rookies this season.

Tawabunga dude 🤙 pic.twitter.com/046DPAB1Q6

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) April 25, 2025

Corbin Burnes looked sharp early on. He set down the first nine batters and faced the minimum through four innings. He was spotting his cutter on the edges of the strike zone and perplexing Rays hitters. Through those four innings, he only needed 44 pitches and had struck out seven.

However, Burnes' start quickly unraveled. His pinpoint command suddenly left him in the fifth, as he issued his first walk to Kameron Misner with one out. With two outs in the frame, José Caballero split the right center gap to put the Rays on the board. Burnes was able to escape the inning with no further damage, but he needed 26 pitches to get through the inning.

The sixth inning featured the same pattern. Burnes gave up a leadoff double to Yandy Díaz and walked Brandon Lowe to open up the inning. A knuckling line drive to Thomas advanced Díaz to third with one out. Junior Caminero tapped a comebacker to the mound, but Burnes did not look the ball into his glove for a fielding error and allowed the Rays to get within two.

It was a disappointing finish for Burnes, who lasted just 5.1 innings and tied his season-high with eight strikeouts while walking three. What was looking like a long start was cut shortly, putting pressure on a short-handed bullpen that had to work hard the previous night.

Jalen Beeks came in to shut the door in the sixth. After striking out Misner, he served up a double to Christopher Morel to get Tampa within one and the tying run at third. Caballero tried to push a bunt past the mound, but Beeks pounced on it quickly to get a huge out and close out the inning.

Beeks came out again in the seventh but only faced one hitter before leaving with an injury. He took a line drive off the left forearm from Chandler Simpson but recovered to make the play to retire the Rays' speedster at first. Lovullo came out, and with it involving the pitching arm, took his pitcher out of the game.

After the game, manager Torey Lovullo revealed it was a left forearm contusion and imaging came back negative.

"In his spot, I don't know exactly where it was, but by the time I got out there it was already swelling. I was the one that made the decision. He was trying to grind it out, the trainer was asking some questions, and I just looked at it and almost threw up. I didn't like the sight of that, that's enough for me, let's get him out of here and get him examined."

That set the stage for Ryne Nelson, who had to pick up the slack with much of the bullpen unavailable. Nelson started strong, striking out five of the first eight hitters he faced. He was spotting his four-seamer to the edges of the plate, pitching around a pair of errors behind him. He was two outs away from collecting a huge eight-out save.

"I felt like with Nelly throwing the ball the way he did, and he came pretty close," said Lovullo. "I thought he was pretty dominant for 2.1 [innings]."

However, Nelson tired in the ninth as the Rays collected three straight singles with one out to tie the game. Shelby Miller was able to keep the game tied, but the game had shifted to Tampa Bay's favor at that point.

When the game went into extra innings, the Rays scored three runs on J.P. Feyereisen. Caminero opened the inning with a double to take the lead, and Morel added a towering two-run blast for critical insurance runs. The Diamondbacks failed to answer in the bottom half of the inning despite getting the tying run to plate.

Arizona has a big series coming up against the Atlanta Braves at Chase Field. Friday night's matchup features two struggling aces with Chris Sale (0-2, 6.17 ERA) taking on Zac Gallen (1-3, 5.60 ERA). First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. MST.