ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ It was death by a thousand paper cuts for Tyler Skaggs, who couldn't find an escape hatch to a fourth inning that seemed like it would never end Tuesday night.
The Angels left-hander gave up seven of his 10 runs and four of his eight hits in the fourth inning of a 10-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays before 15,858 in Tropicana Field.
Two of the hits were singles that didn't leave the infield. Skaggs also walked two in the inning, one with the bases loaded, and he hit a batter with the bases loaded with his 33rd and final pitch.
The three runners reliever Noe Ramirez inherited all scored, leaving Skaggs with a career-worst line: 3 1/3 innings, eight hits, 10 earned runs, three walks, three strikeouts.
Skaggs has been the team's best pitcher this season, entering Tuesday with a 1-2 record and 2.43 ERA in 19 starts. He was been dominant since the start of June, allowing one earned run or fewer _ and no homers _ in seven of eight starts in which he had a 1.44 ERA.
His ERA jumped to 3.34 after Tuesday night's debacle. Skaggs' first mistake came on a hanging curve that Jake Bauers belted for a solo homer to right field in the second. A Mallex Smith double, Kevin Kiermaier triple and Daniel Robertson RBI groundout in the third gave Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead.
Mike Trout doubled and scored on Albert Pujols' single in the top of the fourth, but things unraveled for Skaggs in the bottom of an inning in which the Rays sent 12 batters to the plate.
Carlos Gomez singled with one out and scored on Michael Perez's double to right. Willy Adames walked, and Smith reached on an infield single to load the bases. Kiermaier walked to force in a run, Matt Duffy hit an RBI infield single, and Robertson was hit by a pitch, forcing in another run.
Ramirez gave up an RBI single to C.J. Cron and a two-run single to Gomez that pushed the lead to 10-1. Ramirez struck out Perez to end the inning and threw two scoreless innings to keep the Rays at bay.
The Angels mounted a spirited comeback, scoring twice in the fifth on Kole Calhoun's two-run homer, his 13th of the season and twice in the sixth on a Pujols double, a David Fletcher single and RBI singles by Jose Briceno and Calhoun.
Trout's 30th homer of the season, a 427-foot solo shot that hit the C-ring catwalk above center field, pulled the Angels to within 10-6 in the seventh, but pinch-hitter Francisco Arcia, the rookie catcher who had a major league-record 10 RBIs in his first two games last week, struck out with two on to end the inning.
The Angels threatened again in the eighth when Calhoun walked with one out and Shohei Ohtani singled to center off Jose Alvarado, a left-handed reliever. But Trout struck out looking at a curve and Justin Upton flied out to center.
