Griffin Jax Has Much-Needed Bounce Back for Rays Against Marlins
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The Tampa Bay Rays are mired in their worst stretch of baseball thus far in the 2026 MLB regular season.
With their loss to the Miami Marlins on June 7, they have now lost three out of their last four series, dropping 10 out of their last 13 games. There haven’t been many bright spots recently with how the team has performed, but one emerged against the Marlins: Griffin Jax.
The Rays’ starting rotation has battled injuries right from the start. Ryan Pepiot isn’t going to pitch this year because of an issue with his hip. Joe Boyle remains sidelined as well. Now, they moved Steven Matz to the bullpen because of his ineffectiveness.
That puts a lot of pressure on Jax, who started the season in the bullpen as a reliever but has been stretching out under the watchful eye of pitching coach Kyle Snyder. Against the Marlins, he had one of his best starts of the year, and it could not have come at a better time.
Giffin Jax steps up for Rays against Tigers
Jax fired five shutout innings, allowing only three hits and issuing two walks to go along with four strikeouts. It was great to see him get back on track after struggling in his last two starts against the Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers.
On May 26, against their American League East rivals, Jax was forced out of the game early after being hit with a comebacker, making it through only two innings. He was able to make his next start on June 1, against the Tigers, but things didn’t go well.
Detroit recorded seven hits against him in four innings of work, while also drawing one walk, which resulted in six earned runs being charged to Jax. He struggled mightily keeping the ball in the park, with Dillon Dingler, Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene going back-to-back-to-back against him in the third inning.
While Jax’s performance against Miami didn’t get the team a victory, it was encouraging to see him pitch so effectively. He needed only 62 pitches to get through five innings of work and record his highest game score of the year, a 63, per Baseball Reference.
Griffin Jax led all starters last night with a 107 proStuff+, and he backed it up: five clean innings, no runs, no homers. Cade Cavalli was right behind him at 106 and got lit up for four earned. Stuff does not always protect you. pic.twitter.com/ZSys2qaR0K
— Pitch Profiler (@pitchprofiler) June 8, 2026
Working his expected five innings also helps save the bullpen for the series against the Boston Red Sox. With Matz’s turn coming around for the first time, the Rays are going with Ian Seymour in that spot.
Seymour has started only one game this season as an opener, coming out of the bullpen in his 25 other appearances. This could very well be a bullpen game with the plan to stretch Seymour out, similar to what they have been doing with Jax.
Given the state of their rotation, the pressure is on Jax to continue performing at a high level every fifth game.
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Kenneth Teape is an alumnus of SUNY Old Westbury and graduated in 2013 with an Honors Degree in Media Communications with a focus on print journalism. During his time at Old Westbury, he worked for the school newspaper and several online publications, such as Knicks Now, the official website of the New York Knicks, and a self-made website with fellow students, Gotham City Sports News. Kenneth has also been a site expert at Empire Writes Back, Musket Fire, and Lake Show Life within the FanSided Network. He was a contributor to HoopsHabit, with work featured on Bleacher Report and Yardbarker. Previously, he is a reporter for both NBA Analysis Network and NFL Analysis Network, as well as a writer and editor for Packers Coverage. You can follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @teapester725, or reach him via email at teapester725@gmail.com.