ANAHEIM, Calif. � The Rays have talked a lot about the fun of being in the chase for a playoff spot as they head into the final two weeks of the season.
How for the couple of players who've been through it before, and for the majority that haven't, it's energizing and exciting and exhilarating, and those are just the "e" words.
They've enjoyed plenty of ups lately, but there are going to be some downs to handle also, like Sunday's 6-4 loss to the Angels.
Starter Ryan Yarbrough didn't pitch very well, allowing six runs on a season-high matching 10 hits over five innings.
The offense didn't do enough until it was too late, with two hits and one run in the first inning, and nothing else until Austin Meadows' three-run homer in the eighth.
And the defense seemed, for one reason or another, to be a step behind all day.
As a result, most of the ground gained over the weekend was lost, as both the A's and the Indians won on Sunday.
The Rays head into Monday's off-day at 89-62, 1 { games behind Oakland for the top wild card spot and 1 { ahead of third-place Cleveland, and with 11 games remaining.
The Rays struck first on Sunday as Tommy Pham, getting a DH day, led off with a single, went to third on Avisail Garcia's single and scored on Jesus Aguilar's sac fly.
But Yarbrough wasn't sharp, and it showed early.
A one-out single then a double by Albert Pujols on a fly ball near the rightfield line got the Angels even. Then Pujols, the 39-year-old known for anything besides his speed, nearly ran them into the lead. Pujols stole third as Kole Calhoun walked, and then tagged up on Kevan Smith's fly to medium-at-most depth in left. Meadows throw wasn't going to get him, so Matt Duffy cut it off and threw to second, where the Rays nabbed Calhoun trying to move up.
The initial call was that Pujols scored before the out was made, but the Rays challenged and on replay review the call was overturned.
It was only a short reprieve however, as the Angels got two runs in the second, with help. A leadoff single and a fielder's choice bunt set them up, then Jared Walsh doubled on a fly to left that Meadows had a hard time tracking and ran a rough route. Two batters later, a bloop single by David Fletcher that dropped in between shortstop Willy Adames and Meadows made it 3-1.
The Angels doubled their total in the fifth in a more single way. Fletcher walked and Andrelton Simmons reached on a grounder in the hole that Adames stopped but couldn't make a play on, and Pujols launched a three-run homer.
The Rays made it interesting in the eighth when Adames singled and after a Kevin Kiermaier fielder's choice grounder, Brendan McKay delivered a pinch-hit single for his first major-league hit.
An out later Meadows followed with his 31st homer of the season. Garcia singled to bring the tying run to the plate in pinch-hitter Ji-Man Choi. The Angels brought in their closer, right-hander Hansel Robles, and he struck out Choi.
Joey Wendle walked to lead off the ninth, but the Rays got no closer.
The Rays are off Monday and open a two-game series on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.
