TAMPA — The Rays spent much of Saturday afternoon honoring franchise icon Evan Longoria on the day of his official retirement. They played video clips of his greatest moments, including his dramatic Game 162-ending, playoff-clinching homer in 2011.

But they fell short of what would have been the most fitting tribute — a walkoff win of their own — losing to the Marlins 11-10 in 10 action-packed innings.

Having been up 4-0, tied 4-4, up 6-4, down 10-6 and then tied again 10-10, the Rays were positioned to end the day of celebration in jubilation.

“In a game like this, you’ve got to keep adding whenever you can,” Rays shortstop Taylor Walls said. “Just kind of had a feeling from the first couple innings that it was going to kind of be a shootout. And which team could score last was going to win.”

The disappointing result snapped a four-game winning streak and, at least for the day, stalled a run that had seen the Rays (34-30) win a majors-best 13 of their last 16 games.

They had two chances to make their last at-bat count.

There was a promising opportunity in the ninth, when Yandy Diaz drew a leadoff walk and they had three of their best hitters coming up. But Jonathan Aranda popped out, then Brandon Lowe flew out.

The Miami Marlins' Otto Lopez scores what wound up being the winning run in front of Rays catcher Danny Jansen on an RBI single by Heriberto Hernandez in the top of the 10th inning.The Miami Marlins’ Otto Lopez scores what wound up being the winning run in front of Rays catcher Danny Jansen on an RBI single by Heriberto Hernandez in the top of the 10th inning. [ CHRIS O’MEARA | AP ]

That brought up Junior Caminero — the Rays’ rising star third baseman, who was excited before the game to meet and talk with Longoria — with a chance for an ending fans would have loved for the narrative, but he lined out sharply to third.

The Marlins scored in the top of the 10th on a one-out single off Garrett Cleavinger by Heriberto Hernandez, one of several former Rays minor-leaguers that baseball operations president Peter Bendix brought to Miami.

The Rays had another chance to win in the bottom of the inning.

“We did have the last shot,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We just weren’t able to capitalize and come through.”

That was due in part to the play of Miami second baseman Xavier Edwards, another ex-Tampa Bay minor-leaguer. Edwards’ bigger claim to fame was being denigrated by Blake Snell — in colorful language — after the then-Rays ace got word of the trade in 2019 that sent Tommy Pham to San Diego for Hunter Renfroe and Edwards, who was a prospect at the time.

Edwards, who made it to the majors with the Marlins in 2023, made a really good play diving to his left to snare Jake Mangum’s grounder and get the out at first, though Kameron Misner, the placed runner at second, moved up to third.

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Edwards then made an even better play to end the Rays threat, an acrobatic grab of Jose Caballero’s grounder as it bounced high off the mound, followed by a strong enough throw to the plate to nab Misner, who broke home on contact.

The Miami Marlins' Heriberto Hernandez watches his RBI single off Rays reliever Garrett Cleavinger during the 10th inning.The Miami Marlins’ Heriberto Hernandez watches his RBI single off Rays reliever Garrett Cleavinger during the 10th inning. [ CHRIS O’MEARA | AP ]

“Both those plays, tremendous plays,” Cash said. “For him to stop Mangum’s ball and then the kind of acrobatic throw that he made on Cabby’s — the ball might have benefited them a little bit that it checked up and (took) a high hop. If he’s got to reach down, maybe it’s a little more difficult throw. But, I mean, those are two elite, high-caliber plays that he executed really well.”

Added Walls, “I guess you could say that (10th-inning) play won the game for them.”

The rare off day by the pitchers — who had gone a franchise single-season record 17 straight games without allowing more than four runs — led to a historic waste of offense that included a season-high matching five home runs. It was the first time in nearly 15 seasons the Rays lost when scoring 10 or more.

You gave to go back to Aug. 7, 2010, for a game when they scored in double digits and lost. They had come out on top the 147 times since then, the fourth longest such streak of all time, according to StatsPerform. Overall, the Rays are 287-12 when scoring 10 runs.

Starter Taj Bradley, who had an abbreviated and rough day, said the offense piling up runs was “the bright side” of the game.

“That’s what makes me a little bit more upset, not able to partake in something just as amazing as that,” he said.

More amazing was that most of the offense came from the bottom of the order, with Christopher Morel, Danny Jansen and Walls combining to go 8-for-11 with three doubles, four homers and nine RBIs.

“The bottom … guys really played a big role (Saturday) and kept us in it, got us tied back up in it. I think it was (Brandon Lowe’s) homer that ultimately tied it (in the seventh),” Cash said. “But this offense is doing some really good things, and I kind of expect that. I think they expect that from themselves, that we were down, there was a lot of game left, and we had big at-bats to get right back into it.

Just not that one last big one. The kind old No. 3 could deliver.

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