HOUSTON _ Well, Wednesday at least started better for the Rays.
They scored a run in the second _ albeit without a hit, but, hey, who's counting at this point _ and took a lead for the first time since Friday. Heck, they added on, and when the Astros came back to tie the Rays even went back ahead in the seventh.
But by the end of night, it wasn't enough.
Again.
The Rays lost a fourth straight, 8-6 to the Astros, which of course didn't help their standing in the in the AL wild-card race.
At 76-58, the Rays dropped to 2 { games behind the wild-card leading Indians, who come to the Trop this weekend, though stayed one behind the No. 2 A's, who lost to the Royals.
A triple by Joey Wendle and a single by Jesus Aguilar gave the Rays the 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh.
One call to the bullpen, summoning Diego Castillo to replace Ryan Yarbrough, who'd given them six strong innings in a reasonable 85 pitches, quickly erased it.
Bridging the gap to eighth-inning guy Nick Anderson and de facto closer Emilio Pagan has been a challenge for the Rays.
Trying Castillo again didn't work.
Nor did manager Kevin Cash leaving him out there, as Anderson and Colin Poche were warming.
Castillo walked the leadoff man, Yuli Gurriel, which is always a sign of trouble, and stayed in.
After an attempted pickoff that at least got a long replay review before the safe call stood, Castillo gave up the lead when he gave up a double to Aledmys Diaz, and stayed in.
A fielder's choice at third on a bunt (with Castillo bouncing the throw) and a Jake Marisnick single set the Astros up for more, and Castillo stayed in.
To be fair, it wasn't all his fault.
A bloop single by George Springer to right-center landed just out of the reach of second baseman Eric Sogard, scoring the go-ahead run. And then when Castillo got a grounder for what could have been an inning-ending double play, Sogard inexplicably sailed it over first baseman Ji-Man Choi's head to make it 6-4.
The Astros added on from there, and made it the fourth straight game the Rays, the team build on pitching, allowed seven or more runs, and 38 total, on 51 hits. Willy Adames hit a two-run homer for the Rays in the ninth to make it closer.
The Rays took the lead off Gerrit Cole, one of the Astros three aces, when Ji-Man Choi walked to open the second, moved around on a balk and a wild pitch, then scored on a Joey Wendle sac fly. There was a little more action involved as they stretched the lead to 3-0 in the fourth, as Tommy Pham singled with one out and Choi homered, his 12th of the season but first since Aug. 13th.
The Rays had a lot of confidence, understandably so, in having Yarbrough on the mound, who came with a 3.29 ERA, an 11-3 record overall, and on an impressive run.
Going back to mid-June, with a brief stint back in Triple-A in the middle, Yarbrough had been dazzling over 12 appearances, four of which were starts.
His record was 6-0. His ERA 1.48, which was best in the majors, for pitchers with at least 50 innings, over that span. His game log was neat, showing he allowed one or no earned runs in 11 of those.
"We've got the right guy on the mound because he's pitched as good as anybody in baseball over the last six-seven outings," Cash said before the game.
And Yarbrough, who stepped out from behind and opener and into the rotation, gave them a solid outing, allowing three runs on four hits over six innings.
All the runs came in the fourth, erasing the Rays lead. Jose Altuve led off with a double, moved to third on a ground out and scored on Alex Bregman's single. With two outs, Gurriel hit a two-run homer.
The Rays knew Cole would be tough, and he was, striking out a season-high matching 14 over 6 2/3 innings, and thus breaking an Astros single-season record held by J.R. Richard since 1979 with his 15th game of 10 or more Ks.
The series against the AL powerhouse Astros was to provide some measure for the Rays.
So far, it hasn't been good.
