ARLINGTON, Texas — Rangers slugger Jake Burger belted two home runs off Rays starter Ian Seymour, and a Jorge Mateo throwing error opened the door to a six-run Texas rally across the fourth and fifth innings as Tampa Bay dropped the series finale despite holding an early four-run lead.

“Not good enough,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said sharply afterward, dismissing any consolation from the two victories the Rays took before splitting the series. Tampa Bay fell to 85-58 but maintained its lead atop the AL East heading into a trip to Atlanta.

Seymour, making his 13th start and 43rd appearance of the season, lasted three-plus innings, giving up four runs — three earned — on five hits and a walk. Burger got to him for a solo shot in the second, his 24th home run of the season, then crushed a two-run blast off a 2-2 changeup for his 25th, scoring Wyatt Langford, who had walked to lead off the inning.

“Obviously, out of sync,” Cash said of his starter. “I felt he was kind of out of sync from the first inning on. Just looked like his mechanics weren’t as crisp and had fallen behind guys. And then when he had to come in the zone, he was leaving a lot of pitches middle.”

Seymour disagreed. “Not really,” he said. “Just fell behind Burger and then challenged him [in the second]. Get ahead of [Langford], and walk him and then make a bad two-two pitch [to Burger]. Really, that was the only thing that hurt me today.” Over his past six starts, Seymour has pitched 32 1/3 innings, allowing 35 hits and 16 runs — 15 earned — while walking five and striking out 45, a 4.18 ERA.

The Rays had seized early control, sending 10 hitters to the plate in a four-run second against Rangers starter MacKenzie Gore. Victor Mesa Jr., Nick Fortes, Yandy Díaz and Jonathan Aranda all had an RBI. Fortes brought home the second run with a bunt tapped in front of the mound as Mateo slid home ahead of catcher Elias Díaz’s tag. Junior Caminero added a sacrifice fly in the fourth. Díaz finished 2-for-5 with a run scored, Aranda went 2-for-4, and Chandler Simpson was 2-for-5 with two runs scored.

Texas answered with six combined runs in the fourth and fifth, sending 16 hitters to the plate and collecting seven hits. Mateo’s throwing error on a Corey Seager grounder with two outs in the fourth proved costly — Justin Foscue followed with a two-run double to tie the game at five. Ezequiel Duran and Elias Díaz also drove in runs during the surge.

“That caused two runs right there, but that’s part of the game,” Mateo said. “I just have to keep going. It was a tough game today for everybody — for the team, for me — but we just need keep it up. There’s a lot of things going on; we need to keep battling.”

Left-hander Steven Matz (5-5) took the loss, allowing three hits, a walk and two runs in an inning of relief. The depleted Tampa Bay bullpen surrendered four runs — three earned — over five innings on seven hits, four walks and a home run. Seager added a solo shot off right-hander Cole Sulser in the eighth for insurance.

“We couldn’t create any swing and miss in the fourth and fifth,” Cash said. “They strung together a bunch of really good at-bats and got themselves right back in the game. And then Mateo, that kind of opened the door in the fourth.”

One bright spot: right-hander Ty Johnson made his Major League debut out of the bullpen in the seventh, striking out two hitters and allowing only a walk in a clean outing. Jonny DeLuca had two hits and an RBI in the seventh that trimmed the deficit to one run.

The Rays head to Atlanta to continue a seven-game road trip against the Braves.