TAMPA, Fla. — The only thing hotter than the temperature in Florida on Monday were the two baseball teams playing at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

As the game progressed, the mid-90s temperature cooled down considerably. And so did the Orioles.

The Rays’ scorching-hot bats burned Zach Eflin and the Orioles’ couldn’t touch Ryan Pepiot in Baltimore’s 7-1 series-opening loss.

“It was Pepiot’s night. He was really good, he made it really hard on our hitters,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “He threw the ball great. I thought we battled. He was just better.”

The loss stunted the momentum the Orioles created over the weekend after winning all three games over the Angels, Baltimore’s third sweep in its past five series. After Sunday’s win, the Orioles’ 14th in their past 20 tries, Mansolino said there was “belief” in Baltimore’s clubhouse that a miraculous turnaround was possible.

Monday’s loss served as a reminder — as every defeat will the rest of the season — of how far the Orioles still have to climb.Baltimore is now 30-41 and must win at least 60% of its remaining games to have a chance at playing in October.

Eflin did not look like himself throughout his five innings against the team that traded him to Baltimore last summer. He allowed a career-high 12 hits, most of which were hit hard, but a few that weren’t. It marked only the ninth time he’s given up 10 or more hits in his 10-year career.

Josh Lowe kicked off the game’s scoring with a solo homer to right field that would not have left the yard in any other big league stadium. Of course, Steinbrenner Field in Tampa isn’t an actual MLB stadium. After Hurricane Milton damaged Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, the Rays are playing their home games this season at Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees’ spring training ballpark and the home to New York’s Low-A affiliate.

It wasn’t the long ball that did Eflin in, though. Instead, it was the dink-and-dunk Rays offense that hit ’em where they ain’t. Tampa Bay (40-32) smacked six hits in the first two innings, including an RBI bunt single from Christopher Morel. In the third, Jake Mangum drove in a run on a well-placed infield single.

Lowe’s lucky long ball wasn’t the only wall-scratcher of the evening. Adley Rutschman had one of his own in the fourth that also wouldn’t have exited any other MLB park. That fact is especially strange considering Steinbrenner Field is almost a replicate model of Yankee Stadium, but not even the short porch in the Bronx would’ve surrendered the high flies from Lowe or Rutschman.

“I hit it hard, didn’t know how high it was going to be because I hit it pretty hard off the bat,” Rutschman said. “But, I guess, hit the ball hard and let the good things happen.”

Rutschman’s homer was the closest the Orioles would get. Baltimore’s bats couldn’t figure out Pepiot, managing only four hits while striking out 11 times against the right-hander.

Brandon Lowe, a former Terps standout, blasted a two-run long ball off Eflin to increase the Rays’ lead to 5-1 in the fourth. Before the homer, a sweeper slipped out of Eflin’s hand, which drew the attention of Mansolino and head athletic trainer Scott Barringer. Eflin was fine, though, and the errant pitch (and his error on a pickoff attempt) was a result of sweaty hands. The next pitch he threw was a center-cut changeup that Brandon Lowe clobbered to right-center field.

“I think just location of pitches,” Eflin said of his rough outing. “They were kind of doing some different stuff today, so it was kind of hard to locate, and when they were in the zone, they were hit.”

Eflin went back out for the fifth, but he allowed hits to the first three batters he faced, including a two-run double from Mangum. Eflin finished the fifth to save the bullpen amid a 16-game stretch without a day off. Gregory Soto struck out the side in the sixth, while Colin Selby, who was recalled Monday when Cade Povich was placed on the IL, tossed two scoreless frames.

Postgame analysis: No one said it was going to be easy.

In June, the Orioles have escaped the quicksand they had been stuck in for much of the first two months of the season. After dropping to 18 games under .500 about three weeks ago, they entered Monday winners of 14 of their past 20. But most of those wins came against teams that were either reeling at the time (such as the Red Sox and Mariners) or are among the sport’s worst teams (White Sox, Athletics and Angels).

The next few weeks feature a much more difficult schedule, and it began Monday against a scorching-hot Rays team. After this four-game set, the Orioles then travel to the Bronx to play the American League East-leading Yankees. A week later, they host the Rays for a three-game series.

“It’s as advertised,” Mansolino said of the Rays. “It’s contact, it’s speed, there’s some home runs in there, too. It’s pitching, it’s defense. It’s a really good team right now. They’re playing great.”

If the Orioles are going to get back into playoff contention ahead of the trade deadline, they’ll have to do so against some of the teams that could be buyers next month.

What they’re saying: Rutschman on the Orioles’ mentality after the loss:

“Our team is always going to be together no matter what. We’ve got 16 games straight, but our guys are ready to go every single day. Flush this one and move on to the next one.”

By the numbers: The Statcast numbers on Rutschman’s home run show how strange of a home run it was — and perhaps why Rutschman dropped his head in disappointment after he hit the ball. While the exit velocity (100.7 mph) was good, a launch angle of 49 degrees almost always results in a flyout.

Rutschman’s homer had the highest launch angle of any Orioles home run during the Statcast era (since 2015). At 49 degrees, it’s tied for the fourth-highest home run in MLB during that span, according to MLB’s Sarah Langs.

The ball was in the air for 6.5 seconds and traveled only 329 feet. Statcast gave the ball an expected batting average of .020. At Steinbrenner Field, though, it was a home run — and it rose Rutschman’s OPS to over .700 for the first time since April 15.

On deck: The Orioles haven’t lost consecutive games since May 27-28. If they want to avoid ending that streak, right-hander Dean Kremer and his offense will have to perform better than Eflin and the bats did on Monday. Kremer will pitch opposite Rays right-hander Zack Littell.

Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer @baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.