One Bad Inning Ends Rays' Hopes of Sweep, Winning Road Trip in 7-1 Loss to Giants
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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Ryan Pepiot was dealing. The Tampa Bay starting pitcher had breezed through five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits against the San Francisco Giants as the Rays were looking for a sweep and a winning two-week road trip.
And then it all fell apart — quickly.
The Giants broke open a 0-0 pitchers' duel in the bottom of the sixth with three singles, a walk and a double. Five batters, four runs, just like the that. Pepiot went from dominating to done in just 19 pitches, and the Rays wound up losing 7-1.
They finished their four-city trip with a 6-6 record and are now 61-64 with 37 games to go. And even though they won three series — they got swept in Seattle — they still fell further behind in the American League wild-card standings. They are now 6.5 games behind the New York Yankees, their opponent for two games at home, starting on Tuesday.
“It sucks. We didn’t make up any ground,” Pepiot told reporters after the game. “We won the series and then we had a chance to sweep and go 7-5 on the road trip. It sounds a lot better than 6-6.
"And we didn’t get it done. I didn’t get it done.”
It was the second straight day that the Rays and Giants had gone scoreless through five innings. On Saturday, Rays manager Kevin Cash chose to pull starter Adrian Houser after just 69 pitches, with three left-handed batters due up for the Giants. They scored a run in that sixth inning, but the Rays rallied to win 2-1.
Pepiot was in a similar spot Sunday, knotted in a duel with Giants ace Logan Webb, and having thrown just 69 pitches through five as well. Cash kept him out there, and he got the first two outs without issue in the sixth, getting two fly balls on five pitches.
But with the batting order rolled back around, his third time through the order did not go well. No. 2 hitter Heliot Ramos singled, and Rafael Devers followed with a single of his own. Willy Adames walked to load the bases, and then Dominic Smith singled to right, with all three runners scoring.
Dominic Smith hits a three-run single in the sixth inning as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 7-1 at Oracle Park in San Francisco.#SFGiants
— Rockford Maverick (@RockfordMav) August 18, 2025
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Christian Koss then doubled home Smith on a ball that was misplayed by left fielder Chandler Simpson, and Pepiot's once-promising day was suddenly over.
“I just couldn’t get an out,” Pepiot said. ‘It was just a lack of execution. I got behind people, and I was basically ahead of everyone the whole entire game until that inning. Got two outs in the in the sixth, but just couldn’t get out of it. I didn’t let things speed up, didn’t change any process. I just couldn’t get it done.”
Part of it was just baseball, too. He made a great pitch down andin to Smith on the three-run single, and broke his bat. The ball dropped in safely anyway down the right field line, and the sloppy Rays let the bases clear.
“You break a guy’s bat, you think weak contact — exactly what we’re going for. It just happened to fall, and they scored three runs because I couldn’t execute pitches before that."
The Rays struggled to score all day, not getting a run until the eighth inning, Catcher Hunter Feduccia walked to lead off the inning and Bob Seymour got a one-out single, his first MLB hit. With two outs, Yandy Diaz drove in a run with an infield single.
The 12-game West Coast trip, the longest of the season, was good but not great. They've fallen further behind the Yankees for that final wild-card spot, losing 1.5 games over the course of the trip to a New York team that's won seven of 10.
The Rays and Yankees play Tuesday and Wednesday in Tampa, and the Rays have certainly reached must-win territory. They need to win both games, and then play well against the struggling St. Louis Cardinals this weekend at Steinbrenner Field. The Cards and their depleted and overmatched bullpen just got swept at home by the Yankees, and had lost twice to the lowly Colorado Rockies before that. They've given up 33 runs in the five-game losing streak.
Add it all up, and the Rays need a huge week at home after the off day on Monday.
Related stories on Rays-Giants
- RAYS RALLY LATE TO BEAT GIANTS (Saturday): The Tampa Bay Rays couldn't do anything against future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander for seven innings, but they rallied in the eighth to steal a 2-1 victory from the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night. Veterans Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe had the big hits. CLICK HERE
- TOM BREW COLUMN: Bob Seymour is 26 years old, and the St. John, Ind. native has been dreaming of making it to the big leagues for years. That dream came true Friday night, when he made his MLB debut with the Tampa Bay Rays in San Francisco. His family was there to see it. CLICK HERE
- RAYS TOP GIANTS IN SERIES OPENER (Friday): The Tampa Bay Rays stuck around early, and then beat the San Francisco Giants late with a Yandy Diaz RBI single in the ninth inning, evening their record at 5-5 on this season-long West Coast road trip. Chandler Simpson had three hits. CLICK HERE
- ADAMES REUNITES WITH RAYS: Willy Adames is on a short list of all-time favorite Tampa Bay Rays players, and even though he's been gone since 2021, the new San Francisco Giants shortstop was thrilled to see a lot of old friends on Friday night at Oracle Park. CLICK HERE
- SEE MORE SEYMOURS — ALL THREE: There have only been five Seymours in major-league baseball history, and none since 1913 before this year. But Friday night, Tampa Bay's Ian Seymour and Bob Seymour both played, as did San Francisco reliever Carson Seymour. Three Seymours — in one game. CLICK HERE
Tom Brew is the publisher of ''Tampa Bay Rays on SI'' and has been with the Sports Illustrated platform since 2019. He has worked at some of America's finest newspapers, including the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He owns eight sites on the "On SI'' network and has written four books.
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