Robbie Ray took the bump for the Padres on Saturday, facing off against veteran right-hander Drew Rasmussen.

Ray has struggled with the long ball as of late, giving up one every game in his Padres tenure. Rasmussen is in the midst of a career year for the Rays, carrying a 2.95 ERA into the game.

Both starters go for six innings

Both Ray and Rasmussen went deep into the game and kept the game low-scoring through the sixth. Ray only gave up a solo shot in the fourth to Tampa’s top slugger, Junior Caminero. This extends a streak of now five straight games with a home run given up for Ray. Other than that, he was very effective, giving up three hits, three walks, and tallying four strikeouts in his six innings.

Rasmussen mostly matched Ray, but let a couple of baserunners in the fourth inning get away from him. After walking Ty France and giving up a single to Jackson Merrill, Xander Bogaerts lined one up the middle to put the first two runs on the board. 

San Diego adds insurance

The players the Padres added to the roster today, Samad Taylor and Sung-Mun Song, both teamed up to give the Padres a much-needed small-ball run in the seventh. Taylor reached on a bunt single to start the inning and was able to get all the way to third after an errant pickoff play. Song did his job and hit a deep fly ball to right, allowing Taylor to score on the sacrifice fly.

Miller blows second save of the year

After a couple more scoreless innings, Miller came in to lock down the ninth for the Padres. Despite giving up a leadoff single to Caminero, Miller was able to work a strikeout and lineout to get to two outs with the runner still on first. In one of the weirdest plays you will ever see, Jonny DeLuca then hits a fly ball to deep left field, which Samad Taylor seemingly catches. However, the trajectory sent Taylor crashing into the short wall in the corner of Tropicana, causing the ball to pop out of his glove and go over the wall for a home run instead of an out. It took everyone on the field a second to realize what had happened, with many players, coaches, and fans alike thinking the Padres had won the game on a flyout. Instead, Miller needed another out to keep the game tied and send it to extras, which is exactly what he did.

Ball goes into Samad Taylor’s glove and over the wall for a Jonny Deluca two-run home run off of Mason Miller to tie the game! pic.twitter.com/6IvLbB8B7E

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 30, 2026

Padres lose the battle in extras

After Yuki Matsui and Rays’ Bryan Baker worked a scoreless tenth, Tyler Wells came in for Tampa in the top of the eleventh. He started the inning with a wild pitch, allowing the “ghost-runner” Manny Machado to move up to third. Ty France hit a sacrifice fly to right to get Machado in, giving the Padres a 4-3 lead.

David Morgan came in to try to shut the door again for the Padres. After starting the inning with a strikeout, he gave up a single to Liam Hicks, who then proceeded to be subbed out in favor of the faster Kenny Piper, who immediately stole second. That prompted the Padres to intentionally walk Chandler Simpson to load the bases and give them a potential double-play opportunity to close out the game. Unfortunately, Deleuca hit a short chopper towards Xander Bogaerts that he could not handle, allowing a run to score. With the game tied, former Padre Jorge Mateo hit a line drive single over Taylor’s head in left, walking it off for the Rays.

Padres will travel to Cincinnati to take on the Reds and look to shake off the sweep in Tampa. Monday’s game will be at 3:40 p.m. PDT with Michael King taking on the Reds’ Brady Singer. 

Jacob Larose

Jacob grew up with Padres season tickets and walls plastered with Khalil Greene memorabilia. He has dedicated all of his young professional career towards becoming baseball’s next AJ Preller, having already worked with minor league and college teams in different roles. He is always scouring the Baseball Savant page to find the next little nugget that might help his hometown Padres (or his fantasy baseball team).